VOID-COM: Enemy Somewhat Known
by mi ramfan
Summary: During the final Rune War, reports of Void incursions began to appear, and VOID-COM was created along with the League. Today, the threats are less numerous, the funding has begun to dry up, and VOID-COM struggles to survive in the League's shadow. Even in (relative) peacetime, each mission is more dangerous then the last for the VOID-COM squad. Who will survive?
1. Episode 1: A Proud History

**February 30th, 10 CLE (Common league Era)**

**The Royal Residence, Demacia**

The soldier paced nervously outside the throne room, waiting to be summoned. He had never been more nervous in his life; not when he faced down a massive stone golem at the end of his training to be admitted to the Demacian High Guard, not when he knelt and swore his fealty to Jarvan Lightshield the Third with Shyvana and Quinn standing by (for Jarvan the Fourth had not yet chosen his queen), and not when he had fought in Kalamanda against the Noxian imperialists.

Yet today he was nervous, for he had no idea what he had been summoned for. Would he be knighted? Were his mistakes in Kalamanda grave enough to merit an immediate execution? For all his memories of battles won and lost, he could not possibly remember every deed he committed in the name of the Lightshields.

The double doors swung open, and a voice spoke to him. "Zacharias Stark, you may enter the throne room."

He walked in, reflexively kneeling in the center of the room. "What would you have of me, Prince Jarvan?"

"You have served Demacia with great valor, Zacharias." The soldier remained silent, his eyes skipping about the room, noticing the unusual abscence of other High Guard soldiers.

"Is this to be my execution, Prince?"

"Why in all Runeterra would I wish you executed, Zeke?" Jarvan said, returning to the informal tone he had used when they fought together. "We fought side by side in Kalamanda. You have served Demacia with honor and skill."

"There are no other guards in the room; this suggests that whatever you summoned me for cannot be seen by the other men. Since I have served you with honor, the only possibilities are execution or exile, as those would be the only things you would wish not to be seen by the rest of the High Guard."

Jarvan smiled and rose from his chair. "As vigilant as ever, Zeke. I have no desire to execute or exile you; the secrecy of our meeting is out of necessity and not choice. No, the League told me to ensure you received this missive, and moreover, that I was not to look at it myself nor present it to you in the view of other soldiers." He stood, and handed Zeke the envelope.

Zeke opened it. Scanned it quickly, his eyes taking in every word. "My prince, they wish me to journey to a location in the Shurima Desert, where I will be given further instructions. Do I make this journey with your blessing, my prince?"

Jarvan folded the message back into the envelope and placed it in Zeke's hands before turning him towards the door. "You do. Now, into the world you go. And remember..." Jarvan pointed to a pole hanging above the door, with a scrap of red and white cloth hanging from it,"your fervor will be remembered for millenia to come."

"I'll try to hold on to that memory." Zeke said, and left the throne room, then the castle. The journey to the Shurima Desert would be long, and he had to prepare for what was to come.

**Two weeks later**

**The X on the Map, Shurima Desert**

Zeke examined the map. He was definitely in the right place; the valleys of sand surrounding him looked exactly as he thought they would. With hesitance, he spoke the words on the piece of parchment. "I have made my way here of my own free will, with the blessing of my liegelord, and I give my sword and my silence to the Council." He had no idea what the Council was, nor why they needed him, but the parchment had instructed that he speak the words and he had done so.

Suddenly, the sand began shifting underneath Zeke's feat. He scrambled back in time to see a river of sand flow away from a dune, revealing a door buried beneath the sand. The door swung open, and a dark skinned man stepped out. "Welcome to VOID-COM, Zacharias."

"Call me Zeke."

"VOID-COM was founded immediately after the Rune Wars, when the first creatures from the Void began to appear in Runeterra. Its mission was simple: to investigate reports of Void activity and prevent the curse of the Void from spreading." The man had introduced himself as Alexander, and the two were descending a flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever.

"Where do I fit into this?"

"We're always in need of new soldiers here, and you fit the bill. A high ranking soldier in the Demacian High Guard who fought in Kalamanda and Ionia and needs something to do? Perfect for our needs." The stairs continued, and neither man showed any sign of slowing down.

"So I'm part of this...Void-COM...thing..."

"Yes. Let me tell you how this all got started..."

**The Final Rune War-August 15th, 0 CLE**

**League Treaty Signing-Summoner's Rift, Southwestern Nexus**

The men looked very dignified; Jericho Swain the Noxian in his cloak and tunic, Jarvan the Third of Demacia in his formal armor, Zelos the Ionian in a simple kimono that belied his advanced skill in Hiten. They were here to discuss a treaty that would end the final Rune War and change Runeterra forever, hopefully for the better.

They looked substantially less dignified when two men appeared from nowhere. Jarvan and Zelos spilled their tea over themselves, and Jericho Swain's pet raven made a mess everywhere.

"Who are you? How the hell did you get here! This is a confidential meeting!" said Jarvan the older.

"We are here..." said Kassadin, "to commend you for your foresight. The creation of the League was an excellent step, but the future will require that we prepare for the coming onslaught, lest we be destroyed."

Zelos was a bit more reasonable. "Slow down. Who will destroy us? What can we do to stop them?"

"The Void is coming. I have seen it; unless we prepare we will be no match for them. The sheer power of monsters like Cho'Gath, Kog'Maw..."

"I suppose hearing their names must seal one's fate, because that would be the only way to explain me never having heard of these...things..." said Swain.

"SILENCE!" Kassadin roared, his voice augmented by the breathing equipment that kept him alive. "YOU CANNOT BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE POW-"

"If I may, Kassadin...perhaps I should just show them." the smaller man said. Kassadin breathed heavily through the purple tubing and remained silent.

"I know you," said Zelos. "You're the Last Survivor of Urtistan. Zilean. You've been visiting Ionian healers for your disease."

"That is correct." Zilean nodded, his gaze drifting off into the distance. "I have come to assure you of the veracity of my comrade's statements. The Void is coming. The only question is how we intend to deal with it. I will now show you what the world will look like in 100 years if we do not band together against the Void."

"That's a lot of big names you're dropping, Alex."

"What reason do I have to lie?"

"Good point." The pair finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Alex punched in his code, and the two advanced through the door into the facility.

"Straight ahead through the base. The Commander wants to see you before you retire to your room for some rest. I'll take you there." Zeke followed Alex, listening as he pointed out various parts of the base.

"This whole place is an old nexus that VOID-COM repurposed into our base of operations. Over there is the Summoning room, where our troops are sent into combat with the help of VOID-COM summoners."

"There are summoners here? So we're like League champions?"

"The League only funds us; we're not Champions. Sometimes a champion or two will drop in and assist us with operations, but for the most part we're left to our own devices. Up here on the right is the Clairvoyant Room, where our summoners search for any strange event that could be a Void assault. They do 12 hours on, 12 hours off."

"What about this room on the left?" Zeke asked. The room's glass walls allowed him to see a man wearing a mask with a third metal arm badgering a terrified yordle.

"That's research and development. It's run by the Zaunite Viktor, but we get a lot of help from unemployed Yordle Academy graduates and human techmaturgists. Right after that is the Magic department, where our mages investigate magical means of aiding our soldiers. That department is currently being run by Zilean, with some help from Kassadin every now and then when he has time."

"If we have Zilean on board, you'd think we'd always have time."

"He...doesn't last as long as he used to." Alex grinned; the expression was so silly that Zeke laughed out loud, startling a pair of yordles making their way through the halls.

"Where are the barracks? The mess hall?"

"On the other side of Central Command. Someone else will show you the way there after your meeting with the Commander." Alex stopped in front of a pair of double doors. "Here you are; I'll see you in the barracks once you're done." The man left, leaving Zeke alone in front of the doors.

He opened them. Inside, a large, sky-blue bird crouched in the middle of the room, wings folded about it. Every now and then, uniformed men would walk up to her, and, appearing to talk, would return to their stations as the creature nodded slowly.

"Come in, Zacharias." the bird said. Knowing inside who he was speaking to, Zeke walked to the center of the room and knelt.

"It is an honor to meet you, o Cryophoenix." Something flashed in front of his eyes and before he knew it he was on his back several feet away with a pain in his skull.

"Do not bow to me. I am no greater then any other being in this room." Anivia brought her wing across her body in a gesture of welcome. "I have simply lived much longer. Welcome to VOID-COM, Zacharias Stark. I am the commander of the VOID-COM project-however, you may call me Anivia."

Zeke climbed to his feet, rubbing his forehead. "Call me Zeke."

"Your fellow soldiers may call you Zeke if they wish. You will always, however, be Zacharias to me. I called you here because, as impressive an infrastructure we have here at VOID-COM, we are still lacking in skilled soldiers. We need men like you."

"I appreciate that, Anivia, but I can't stay. My liege Jarvan will expect my return."

"Will he?" Anivia cocked her head. "I have informed him of your unfortunate death on your way here of a strange new disease, the likes of which have never been seen before. Because it is so dangerous, and his life is so valuable, he took it as a matter of course that he must never attempt to visit your burial site, which does not actually exist. Now, there is no disease, but there is VOID-COM...and so long as you remain here, you serve at my pleasure."

"I'm going. Thank you for your time." Zeke turned around, only to find a wall of ice where the door had been.

"I'll make you a deal, Zacharias. Live here for a few days. Meet the other soldiers. You've probably heard some of their names before, and they're quite friendly. We'll send you on the next mission that comes up, and you can decide if this is work you're willing to give your life to. If not..." Anivia paused, deep in thought. "If not, I'll let you return home. But let me be clear...this place is top secret. Not even the High Councilor of the League knows of its existence. In order for you to return home, you must consent to a total mental block that will erase all memory of this facility from your mind. Each one of us submits to one each time we leave on non-official business: the only thing you will remember of VOID-COM is the location of the entrance and the words you must speak to enter. If you ever decide to return...VOID-COM will have a place for you." The ice wall had almost melted; Zeke turned back to Anivia. "Zacharias, do you accept my terms?"

Zeke paused. Thought it over a bit. "I do."


	2. Episode 2: Armed? Dangerous?

**The same day**

**VOID-COM Nexus**

Anivia sent Zeke on his way, but not without a few tasks.

"The base is laid out like a Bilgewater dart board, with three rings. The outer ring are barracks, the mess hall, and training facilities where you can improve your strength and latent magical ability, if you have it. The middle ring is the Research area, where VOID-COM's techmaturgy and spellcasting departments do their work. The inner ring is where the Summoners reside and practice; this room is Central Command, at the center of it all."

"Thanks for the help."

"I know you are weary from your journey, but before you retire for today I'd like you to first visit Zilean so he can test your latent magical power. Then, go to the Armory in the outer ring and meet with our expert there; she'll help you find the weapon best suited for you and give you the standard VOID-COM uniforms and armor. After that, rest well; you may be called to duty at any time."

"Understood, Cryophoenix." Zeke turned and headed out, leaving Anivia alone except for the technicians and scientists always buzzing about Central Command. She sighed to herself, and waddled to the computer terminal keyed in to her use. Typing out official reports with talons got so tiring.

Despite the new recruit's reluctance, she knew she had made the right choice. Her instincts were backed by thousands of years of memories; she was wrong only rarely, and for her that meant perhaps once in the lifetime of the average human being. For now, she would have to type out an official report to the League on Zeke, despite the fact that the League never actually read the reports because only one or two people there had the security clearance to access them.

Zeke opened the door to the Spellcasting department, and sat down in a chair marked for "new arrivals". A robot that looked vaguely like Blitzcrank but was too thin and had too high pitched a voice instructed him to wait for Zilean to return. It was only a brief second before Zilean crashed through a door, yelling back,"DON'T YOU GO TO BED TONIGHT UNTIL YOU'VE MASTERED THAT IGNITING SPELL!" He stopped short. "Oh. The new recruit that Anivia was going to send me."

"Anivia told you about me?"

"I foresaw her telling me you were coming, so I told her yesterday night that I knew you were coming and there was no need for her to inform me."

"That...doesn't make any sense."

"It is a fact of life; one cannot observe something without changing it. We cannot observe the Void, nor they observe us, without the experience changing us both. Now, let me examine you for magical power. SILENCE, PLEASE!" All of the humming in the room whirred to a stop, and all of the monitors showing new mages casting spells flicked off. Zilean closed his eyes and stood still. A minute passed, then another.

"Don't say anything. I'm trying to focus."

"But I'm n-"

"I knew you would say that. Quiet." Another few minutes passed. Finally, Zilean opened his eyes. "You may go."

"What? But I thought you were testing me for magical ability!"

"I looked into the future, and I saw that if I was to administer the tests, you would demonstrate no magical power. Therefore, there is no need for me to test you. You may go." More perplexed by the second, Zeke left the room.

Anivia finished typing her report on Zeke's arrival, her talons aching. She flapped up into the middle of Central, which had a specially raised ceiling to allow her to take flight when it pleased her.

"Cryophoenix, are you alright?" asked one technician.

"Certainly. I'm simply giving my talons a rest. What news have you?"

"The new soldier, Private Stark, tested negative for both spellcasting and summoning talent." Anivia nodded; it was what she had expected. "Also, Viktor has a report for you; would you like to visit him in Techmaturgy, or should I patch him through?"

"Patch him through."

"Viktor, you're on the main screen in Central." Anivia turned to see a masked Viktor projected onto one of the walls, his third arm twiddling its thumb.

"Commandant Anivia. Our recent research into ranged weapons more...portable...then Tristana's cannon has failed upon testing. We sent orders for Tristana to test it on the firing range; she paged back telling us it didn't have enough BOOM. My cybernetic enhancements do not provide me with a meaning for this statement-"

Anivia grinned inwardly at Tristana's usual dissatisfaction with any weapon other than her signature cannon. "Have you tested the prototype yourself and found it to be satisfactory?"

"Yes, I have. The weapon performs optimally and surpasses all of your specifications, which is why I struggle to comprehend-"

"Make ten prototypes of it; we will begin training our soldiers in its use immediately. I want them in the field in two weeks."

"Yes, Commander." Viktor reached for the button to close the connection, then hesitated. "Have you ever considered allowing me to implant you with some cybernetics? I have a brand new one available that would give you Blitznet access and allow you to type with your mind. What about wing enh-"

"Kill the connection." The image flickered out. Anivia landed on the ground, still smiling; Viktor's attempts to persuade her to accept mechanical enhancement always amused her. She knew that any non-organic material in her body would prevent her biological restoration mechanism from functioning properly, blocking her resurrection.

"Do you think he'll ever stop trying to implant us all with circuitry?"

"When Tristana decides to step down to a more conventional and appropriate weapon for her size." Which, everyone knew, meant never.

A robed Summoner sprinted into the room, tripping over his hooded robe. "Commander, we've detected four events in the past five minutes. How should we proceed?"

Zeke arrived in the Armory, only to see four blades floating in front of him. He raised his arms to protect himself, though without armor or weapons he wouldn't last long.

"Sorry. My blades get a little...aggressive when I try out anything else." A red haired Ionian woman set down a mace and chain, and the blades immediately flew back to her and formed into their trademark surfboard shape. "I'm-"

"You're Irelia, the Will of the Blades." Zeke closed his eyes and recited the dossier he had memorized while part of the Demacian High Guard. "Born in Ionia in 5 BLE, fought in the battle of the Shojin during the Noxian invasion in 7 CLE at the age of thirteen. Supposedly killed by an explosion caused by an unexpected reaction in Singed's poisons, but was saved by Soraka on the battlefield at great cost. Has complete control of her four blades, which are melded to her mind and float in the air under telekinetic contro-"

"That's me. I'm the resident weapons specialist here."

"Oh, come on, Relly." A white-haired guy walked in, a sword sheathed on his back. His voice was strangely high-pitched. "I've got a lot more experience than you."

"What are you talking about, Mr 'boo-hoo my sword is broken so I'm not an evil Noxian anymore'?" Irelia's blades took on a menacing posture in the air.

Zeke cut in before someone got injured. "Riven, the Exile. Born in Noxus in an internment camp in a disputed region on the Demacian border. After his mother's death of an infection contracted in the camp-"

"Don't TALK about me! That's private!" Riven swung a punch at Zeke, who quickly sidestepped.

"-killed multiple guards at the internment camp with a shard of glass from a broken window, finishing with the camp's commander. Recaptured and offered a choice between enlistment in the Noxian army or execution. Assumed dead in the Ionian campaign and posthumously awarded the Du Couteau medal; this award was repudiated when Riven was revealed to have gone rogue during the campaign, leaving her troops and boarding a ship to neutral Freljord. Standing warrants for Riven's arrest and trial are active in Noxus (treason), Ionia (war crimes), and Demacia, also for war crimes." Riven punched Zeke in the jaw, sending him to the ground.

"Damn Demacians. Can't keep their square jaws out of anyone's business."

"So it's true?"

"You've got your facts all wrong." Riven headed for the door. "Starting with my gender."

Irelia knelt down next to me. "You alright? Sorry about that; Riven doesn't like people talking about her past. Let me give you a hand," she said, her blades forming into a compact hand shape with rather sharp edges.

"I'll help myself, thanks." Zeke stood. "So, you're here to give me a weapon?"

"Yes. I'll have to take your measurements first," she said as her blades rapidly whirled around Zeke, stopping briefly at various parts of his body before whirling about again. "Then, I'll take a look at your body and decide the best weapon for you." The wall behind Irelia lit up, and she turned around. "Commander?"

"We're dispatching a squad for a mission to Ionia in ten minutes. I want Zacharias on the mission, so get him armed and ready to go."

"CAN YOU WATCH IT?" Zeke yelled; Irelia's blades were moving around him even as Irelia looked away.

"I'll get him ready to go,"Irelia said,"but I need 15 minutes. Can't you just send the regular A team?"

"I would send the A team, but Alexander is still on psychotherapy after his encounter with Malzahar, Kassadin is in Spellcasting using one of the memory drives to record more of his memories of the Void for us, and the other soldiers are either in League matches or just began their sleep rotation, which will make them rather inefficient. So we're sending you, Zacharias, and Riven, and you'll meet up with Kennen of the Kinkou on-site."

"IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?!" Zeke yelled as the blades sliced through his trousers and began measuring a particularly sensitive part of his anatomy.

"No," Irelia conceded,"it's not." She called her blades back to her. "Anything else, commander?"

"Ten minutes." The screen flicked out.

"Zeke, what weapon did you use in Kalamanda? I know from your report that you fought there."

"I used a right handed pikeaxe, mostly. Had a dagger ready in case I got disarmed, but it never came to that." The pikeaxe was a two handed weapon with an axe head on one side, a hook on the other, and a spear point on the end of the shaft.

Irelia frowned. "We don't keep those around here."

"Why not? They're great weapons."

"That they are. However, they're much more effective in pitched battle then they are in small skirmishes, which is what we do most often. So let's see...I don't have time to find the absolute perfect weapon for you, so put on one of the uniforms over there while I try to find something similar for you to use for this mission."

"What about that mace you were playing with when I came in?" Zeke asked as he donned the chainmail vest, followed by a magic dampening cape. It was all old school for him.

"Oh, that? That's the ball and chain of the Noxian lord Van Damm. According to the legends, he was a peasant until a Demacian invasion long before the League's creation. When he heard the fighting, he ran in and grabbed a ball and chain from a fallen soldier. His experience as a farmer made him immensely strong, and he slayed over a hundred Demacians that day by bashing their skull in. He earned an estate for his efforts, and his mace was discovered to have been enchanted to increase the user's strength. But it's too brutal a weapon for you; you're a trained soldier, you need something more refined."

Zeke finished dressing and began inspecting weapons along with Irelia. "What about this one?" he said, reaching for a curving, chipped blade that had a strange yellow glow to it.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Irelia yelled, knocking his hand away. "That's the blade of the pirate captain Guinsoo. All we know about that thing is that once you start swinging it, you can't stop until either everyone is dead or you are, and that any pain the blade causes to others is subtracted from the holder, so you won't notice you're wounded until it's too late to save you."

"Two minutes to mission launch."

"We're running out of time. I think I have the thing for you, but I have to find it; give me a second." The Ionian handed Zeke a short purple blade, which he quickly sheathed on his belt, and a gleaming silver shield. Then she ran off into the depths of the armory.

Zeke headed for the door, inspecting the weapons Irelia handed him. The knife had the word "Doran" inscripted on it, which Zeke knew to be the mark of the legendary Demacian craftsman. But the shield was more mysterious; it had a Rakkorian inscription that Zeke couldn't decipher. He shrugged and mounted the shield on his back. Moments later, Irelia ran back with a pair of yellow blades which she strapped to Zeke's back. The pair ran to the deployment room in the inner ring.

"What's the swords?"

"They were created by an unknown craftsman as a testament to the zealotry with which he pursued the goal of the perfect weapon. Each one is called a Zeal." Despite the long words and fast pace, Irelia wasn't even breathing hard. "This was only a first step in his quest; we have the final result here as well, but we don't give that out to newbies."

"Why do I need two of these, and what was the final product?"

"In order for a Zeal's special powers to activate, you must have two with you; carry only one, and they're ordinary blades. A pair of Zeals will enhance your endurance, allowing you to run faster and launch more strikes, although that second one is the normal result of carrying two swords. The final product is a legendary item called the Phantom Dancer, which allows the holder to walk through solid objects at will."

"Why can't I have that one?"

"So many questions!" Irelia shouted as they flew in the door to the summoning room. "The Phantom Dancer is a little finnicky and doesn't always work as you expect, and because of that we require special training in its use and mastery. Plus, if you deactivate it while you're in the middle of a wall, Viktor says it'll cause some kind of massive explosion."

"Great, you're here!" said a Summoner standing with several glowing light balls by the side of the room. Each summoner began manipulating a large ball of light in front of them, and blue circles formed around Riven, Irelia, and Zeke. "Summoning to Ionia in three...two...one..."


	3. Episode 3: Corruption

The three soldiers appeared a bit above the ground, dropping into crouches.

"This reminds me of the invasion," Riven said. "You can smell the death in the air, the poison eating away at the plants...it's horrible."

"But this is different," Irelia said, yanking a blackened plant out of the ground. "During the war, you could see clouds of chemicals everywhere. Now, there's nothing except this puddle of purple...ick..."

"Where was Kennen supposed to meet us?" Zeke asked.

"Just over the hill right there. Summoners were off target, but it's within their normal error margin for a journey this size."

"Take out the shield, Zeke. Let's go." The three jogged over the hill. Kennen waited, wearing a traditional Ionian kimono that he looked extremely uncomfortable in.

"HEY guys. Glad YOU made it!" yelled Kennen. "The locals say this stuff appeared out of nowhere last night. They did think they saw some guy running around hunting, but that's perfectly normal. So what do you think is going on, Irelia?"

"Well, I don't think this fits the profile of a typical Void attack; they tend to focus on eating things, but there's nothing eatable left here. No, I think that this is some threat from within Ionia. Are there any temples around here?" Irelia asked. Zeke stood around, feeling out of the loop. Seeing the shield and dagger in his hands and knowing the pair of Zeals were on his back, he felt strangely bold and courageous.

"Well, the Shojin Monastery is a few miles to the west, and to the south is the Ionian capitol-"

"Not THAT kind of temple, Kennen," Riven cut in. "We're looking for some sort of place where they keep 'dark secrets that must never be revealed' or whatever that translates to in Ionian."

"Now that I think about it, there is..." Kennen suddenly stiffened.

"What is it?" Zeke asked.

"Tera no Fuhai. It's pretty far away, but it's next to a village that was destroyed during the Noxian invasion; back then, the Noxians tried to seize it, only to be slain. Their bodies were filled with arrow wounds that didn't have arrows in them, and they were found in purple goo just like the stuff over there."

"Let's go." Zeke said. Kennen took two steps and tripped over his kimono.

"Screw this. I'll meet you there." Kennen suddenly morphed into a ball of electricity, which burned straight through his kimono and flew off over the hills into the distance.

"I hope he's wearing something under that."

**Three hours later**

**Shurima Desert, the VOID-COM Nexus**

Whenever a VOID-COM squad went on a mission, one of the Clairvoyants was diverted to monitor their progress. Anivia didn't usually pay too much attention to the missions, because VOID-COM's soldiers were capable and could handle themselves. But this time, it was different. She didn't have her best in the field, and the mission was sudden with no chance to prepare; if anything went wrong, it would be on her.

So it came as a troubling surprise when another summoner, a woman this time, emerged from the Clairvoyant room.

"Anivia, we have another six pings." The cryophoenix sighed and shook her head. Six pings at once? Even if most of VOID-COM wasn't absent or asleep, there was no way she could dispatch six squads; the biggest mission in VOID-COM history had been a three squad mission, and that had pushed the organization's summoners to the limit.

She would have to make a judgement call.

"How long have the sleepers been out, exactly?" the commander asked.

"Main sleep cycle began about four hours ago, Cryophoenix." Anivia quickly did some calculations; in twenty minutes, the soldiers would exit the dreaming stage and be able to be awakened for a brief window without their concentration being affected by drowsiness.. "Is that important?"

"It is." Anivia stopped a passing technician with her wing. "I want everyone in Barracks A awake and ready to deploy in forty minutes. Don't wake them up for twenty; I need them at maximum efficiency."

"Anything else, Cryophoenix?"

"Get Kassadin out of the Memory Drive. We need his magic more then his memories right now." The technician ran off, leaving Anivia with the summoner. "Where are the pings coming from, summoner Rallen?"

"Three from the Freljord, two from an unexplored overseas location. The last one isn't technically a ping; our motion detectors at the Shurima portal detected something coming out of the portal."

"Understood." Anivia closed her eyes for a brief moment.

"Anivia? ANIVIA?"

"Yes?"

"You've been sitting there for ten minutes!"

Anivia opened her eyes. "We'll send what's left of the A team and some of the B team to the Shurima portal. Ignore the other pings; we don't have the time nor the manpower to explore an undiscovered island."

"And Freljord?"

"All of the pings came from the domain of the Ice Dervish Lissandra, correct?" Anivia lived in Freljord before she was asked to head up VOID-COM, but she remembered being the only one who realized that the 'Ice Dervish' was more than she appeared. "From now on, do not report pings from Lissandra's territory unless you see Cho'Gath eating their city. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Commander." The summoner left to head to sleep; an informal rule at VOID-COM was that any soldier returning from a mission, engineer who completed a new prototype, doctor who saved a life, or in this case a Summoner who got a ping, was entitled to eight hours of leave. Anivia would have to awaken another summoner to replace her in the Clairvoyant room, but this wasn't a serious enough incident to merit an exception to the popular rule.

A loud pop sounded from behind the Cryophoenix, and a cold blade pressed against her neck. Without turning, Anivia spoke. "Kassadin, you know this is hardly necessary. I need another team out there."

Kassadin removed the blade, and walked around until he and Anivia were face to face. "Those memories are important," he rasped through his respirator. "I did not have enough time, nor was I conscious enough to remember everything during my time in the Void. But if I can deposit them-"

"As you have told me on many separate occasions, they may be the key to ending the Void threat." Kassadin's face remained emotionless as Anivia spoke. "But it would not do to sacrifice our defense in the present for the possibility of victory in the distant future. We must remain vigilant; you of all people-"

"I, OF ALL PEOPLE?" Kassadin said, dragging out each word, his mechanically enhanced voice seething with rage. "If you cannot maintain proper respect for what I have experienced, what I have suffered, then I will have to leave this pathetically sentimental organization and hunt the Void on my own."

Feeling unusually daring, but knowing in her ancient mind that this was the right decision, Anivia asked,"And how long would you last on your own?" Kassadin turned to leave in a huff, only to find a wall of ice rapidly rise in his path. "I speak with candor, because we have run up against the brutal facts of this endeavor. We are outnumbered, outgunned, and pings are appearing faster than we can resolve them. If VOID-COM, with the might of the League behind us, can't deal with the Void threat, how would you do on your own?"

"Better. For a time," the Void-enhanced mage spat.

"For a time. Then you'll run into a Void incursion you can't handle alone, and by the time you realize it, you'll be dead, and we'll have lost our only hope of beating the invasion. No, as frustrating as this may be for you, we need you in VOID-COM. Your squad will be waiting in the briefing room in about ten minutes; I trust you will lead them with your usual skill and efficiency."

"What is the mission you have seen fit to assign me?"

"Something has emerged from the portal where you were found; your job is to deduce its intentions, and eliminate it in case it has any kind of hostile intent."

"Finally, my kind of job." Kassadin vanished with a bang, then spoke again; he apparently didn't leave. "Why were you chosen to lead VOID-COM, and not me? I am more experienced, I have the crucial memories we need, I-"

"Each time I interrupt your memory depositions, you ask me this question, and each time, I can only provide you the same answer that I gave the previous time. I was chosen to lead VOID-COM not because I am old or wise; believe me when I say that there are both older beings and wiser ones than I. No, I was chosen because I alone in Runeterra have no stake in the outcome of this war. Even if the Void is victorious, I can fly away and endure. Even if their jaws close upon me hundreds of times, I will rise from the ice once more. I have no ties to nations nor lovers, nor do I have a vendetta against anyone or anything; I am the only truly neutral being on Runeterra. And so, I am the being that can be best trusted to make decisions that will decide the fates of nations." It was word for word the same answer she gave Kassadin each time; the words seemed to have a calming effect on him.

Another bang, and Kassadin was gone. In another brief moment, Kassadin led two armored men and a mage into the Summoning room. Summoners whirled around them, and then the glowing energy balls appeared and the group vanished.

When you've lived for thousands of years, everything feels like a snapshot.

**Ionia**

**tera no fuhai (The Temple of Corruption)**

Thankfully, Kennen had somehow donned a purple outfit that covered everything but his hands and eyes by the time the VOID-COM team arrived. He said he had been wearing it under the kimono. Nobody believed him.

"This is the place. What are you guys looking for here? This place is scaaaaarrrry." Kennen looked nervous, like he would be glad to leave.

"We're looking for whatever caused the weird plague field. As soon as we find it and stop it, or we find a clue that leads us to some other place, we can leave."

"Let's go." Zeke said. "I'll lead the way." His boldness drew only strange looks from the two women and the Kinkou messenger.

Riven quizzically asked,"Shouldn't one of the Ionians go first?"

"I'm plenty strong enough, I'm the biggest guy here, let me go first."

"Give me the shield." Irelia yanked the shield from Zeke's grasp. "How about now?"

"You lead, Irelia. You know how Ionian temples are laid out." Then: "What?"

"You got any Rakkorian blood, Zeke?" Riven asked.

"Weren't you the one who didn't like talking about the past? Besides, my family is pure Demacian."

"Only my own past," Riven grinned. "That shield was the Aegis of the Rakkorian Legion, wielded by the mightiest warrior in their army. To outsiders, the shield was a symbol of hope, of protection, of courage. To the Rakkorians themselves...it bolstered courage, leadership skills, and toughness to the point where the holder would be incredibly noble, but also simultaneously display suicidal bravery."

"So one of my parents cheated on the other?"

"Doesn't have to be one of your parents, could be anywhere in your family tree," Riven replied. Zeke rolled his eyes. "But cheer up! Now that you're not pure Demacian, you can be a nationless mongrel like me!"

"That sounds...excellent, but can we get back to the mission?" Irelia asked. "I'll lead."

The group proceeded into the temple, Irelia and Kennen in the lead and Riven and Zeke watching the group's backs. The hallways were lit by flickering torches, and water drops ran down the ancient walls of the temple. It had clearly not been maintained well.

Riven and Zeke backed headlong into Irelia and Kennen, knocking over the yordle. The Demacian sighed as he saw Irelia's hand raised in a fist.

"Oh, for the love of...I don't know th-" Riven slapped her hand over Zeke's mouth.

"Quiet," she hissed. "Something's coming." A shadow flickered from a junction in front of them. "Get ready to fight." The shadow crossed through the intersection, revealing its bare chest, fur-covered legs, and the purple bow it carried that had an unearthly red arrow nocked.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Irelia shouted, charging forward from the shadows. The figure turned, the arrows on his bow multiplying into a swarm.

This was going to be close.

**Shurima Desert**

**The Gates of Icathia**

"SILENCE!" Kassadin roared at the purple creature, his magical power surging into a ball that smashed into the...thing, slamming it into a wall. Behind him, a burst of light flew from a wand, pinning the mantis-like creature.

"WHO ARE YOU? HOW DID YOU GET THROUGH THE PORTAL?"

The creature spoke. "I founnnndddd it...you cannot keep me here...I will evolvvvvvveeee..." Then he vanished.

"I snared him!" shouted the blonde mage along for the ride. "He's still in the same spot!" Kassadin swung his prostethic blade with both hands through the space where the creature had been. It stopped halfway down with a clink. The creature appeared again.

"I HAVE YOU!" the void-enhanced man shouted through his ventilator. "YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME."

"But for howwwww long?"

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER, CREATURE!"

"Interessssssting...A chhhhhhild of the Void..." The creature vanished once more, but this time he could not be found.

Kassadin howled with frustration.

**Ionia**

**The Temple of Desolation**

"Look out!" Irelia yelled as a hail of arrows flew down the corridor. The VOID-COM team ducked behind pillars, avoiding the worst of the attack. "It's on the run!" The group sprinted after the creature, Riven in the lead with her completed green blade flashing light about the corridor. The creature turned, snarled, and fired another arrow which Riven easily deflected with her completed blade.

"He can't keep this up much longer!" Zeke shouted.

"His arrows aren't coming from a quiver; for all we know they could be magical and he could have thousands!" Irelia panted as she kept sprinting after the thing.

"Life...is...corruption..." the creature snarled, firing a tentacle of purple goo which ensnared the group.

"SHIT! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Riven yelled. The creature stopped, turned, and readied another hail of arrows.

The VOID-COM team could only watch as a shuriken buried itself in the creature, followed by a shock that drew a scream of agony from the creature. Finally, a purple-garbed yordle flew from the shadows, kicking the creature in the side of the leg. It crumpled to the ground.

Kennen turned to the team. "The hallway goes all the way around." The creature stirred and began to rise until the Kinkou messenger buried a shuriken in his chest, knocking him back down. "Judging from some of the pictographs I ran by, the creature's name is Varus. He was carving out his story in the walls..."

"...but you can tell us later, after we've gotten out of here." Riven shook herself loose from the goo and grabbed the limp Varus. She raised her spare hand to her ear. "Riven to central. We found the cause of the attacks, have it in custody. What do you advise?" The former Noxian listened briefly. "Roger that." Then: "We're out of here, stand still." Blue circles appeared around us.

"Uh...guys...can we get out of here?" Kennen asked?

"Yeah...we're on our way-" and they were gone.

"Great...dark, creepy temple...where the lightning can't reach. Just great."


	4. Episode 4: The Depths Have Eyes

**June 20th, 23 BLE**

**The High Seas, 11 clicks offshore of Bilgewater**

"Avast, ye! There be something ahead!

"All hands on deck!" The sleeping crew scrambled from their hammocks belowdecks, rubbing their eyes. The captain of the ship led the way out of the cabins, knocking several unfortunate cabin boys out of the way.

"What's happening?" An unspoken threat of flogging or execution hid behind the words.

"The lookout spotted a queer spot of black liquid ahead, Captain. We wanted your advice."

"Tell the diver to put on his suit. We'll see if there's riches to be found here today." The men cheered, some more excited than others. A few minutes later, the sound of metal boots stomping across the deck drowned out the gentle rise and fall of the tides. "Drop anchor. We'll send down Mr. Diver here with it."

The man inside the suit took several breaths of the unfiltered sea air. Then he slid on his helmet, grabbed the anchor, and leaped into the water with a massive splash. A minute later, he splashed back to the surface, covered in black tar with a large suckered tentacle wrapped around his legs.

"GET IT OFF ME!" he yelled. The captain and crew took one look at each other, then at the tentacle creeping its way up and around the diver's body, and finally at the black tar that they now noticed was swimming with creatures they had never seen before.

"Release the anchor! NOW!" the captain ordered. As the crew used ship's axes to slice through the anchor chain, abandoning the diver to the depths, he caught a glimpse of the man's eyes through his suit. They were filled first with fear, followed by murderous rage as the anchor chain was finally cut and he was sucked under the surface.

**The Present Day (10 CLE)**

**VOID-COM Nexus**

"Hmm...this one doesn't seem right for you either." Irelia said, removing a purple scimitar from Zeke's hands.

"You still haven't found Zeke a suitable weapon?" Anivia's voice boomed from a projection that certainly wasn't there a minute ago. "In that case, I have no choice other then to remove Zeke from active duty. Someone else can handle the Bilgewater ping that just came through. You will remain on dual suspension with Zeke until he has something to fight with that doesn't look more out of place then Tryndamere wearing Rabadon's Deathcap."

"Aww...but, Anivia, you promised me a spot on the ne-"

"You are the weapons master, Irelia. You get to go on missions only when every active duty soldier is suitably armed. Since Zeke-and a few of today's new arrivals- are not, you need to stay and get through your backlog alone." Anivia pondered this for a moment. "On second thought, I am officially raising Riven from assistant weapon master to head weapon master. You will instead fill the position of armorer. I trust that splitting responsibilities between the two of you will improve your efficiency." The projection flickered out.

"FUCK! That stupid-" Irelia yelled as a new recruit, a young female yordle, walked into the room.

"Oh? Bad time?"

Irelia sighed. "Sorry about that, I'm just...I'm just under a lot of stress right now."

"That's alright. I'm Emilia," the yordle said, leaping off the ground to shake Irelia's hand. "They told me to come talk to you about getting some armor?" she asked hesitantly.

"Uhh...you'll want to talk to Riven," Irelia lied. "She's the armor girl. I'm the weapons master here."

"I saw the whole thing, I know you're the new armorer. Besides, Anivia told me specifically to come to you."

Irelia sighed again. "Got me. So, what did you before you came to VOID-COM?"

"Grew up in Bandle City, watched the doctors at work in the Academy of Medicine through binoculars." As Emilia spoke, Irelia's blades circled her, taking measurements much as they had with Zeke. "When I turned 17, I did my mandatory two years of military service with distinction. Saved a few of my comrades' lives and they gave me a scholarship to the Academy. After I graduated, my practice failed, so I returned to the military as a battlefield medic. Then they bumped me up to the Meglings."

"You were a Megling?" Zeke asked.

"Yes, I was. Spent a lot of time with Teemo and Tristana, which is probably why they sent me out here; I got a lot of practice on those idiots when they accidentally inhaled blowdarts or broke their ankles rocket jumping."

"More to the point, is your healing magical or chemical?" Irelia asked.

"I don't have any magic. All I've got are my needles and my trusty Kickstarter rig."

"Then I have just the thing for you!" Irelia ran off, and she was quickly replaced by Riven.

"Need a weapon, yordle?"

"Nope! I'm a medic; just getting some armor from Irelia."

"Armor? She hates giving out armor." Riven turned to Zeke. "Since Irelia's method has failed, I'm going to have to get you a weapon through other means." Irelia ran back, tossing Emilia a green vest.

"Put that on. It's called a Spirit Visage. Multiplies the healing ability of anyone nearby, making them easier to patch up and quicker..." the pair ran down the hall towards the Deployment room, leaving Riven and Zeke alone.

"Good, they're gone." Riven closed the door, grabbed a poker from above a nearby fireplace, and thrust it into Zeke's hands. "DEFEND YOURSELF!" she roared, whirling her broken sword towards Zeke.

**The Present**

**The Gallows, Bilgewater**

The blue light vanished, leaving Alexander, Emilia, Darius, and Lux standing on the thankfully unoccupied wooden gallows in the center of the town.

"...charming place to be summoned to," muttered Alexander.

"House of the most recent victim should be right over there." Darius pointed to a rather fancy house compared to the surrounding shacks. "Let's check it out." The group jogged to the house and slid open the door. In the palatial bedroom, nothing remained of the victim but a nauseating slurry of crushed bone, mangled flesh, and blood.

"Damn. What could even do this?" Emilia gasped. "There's not even enough left to autopsy!"

"I'll give you a hint," Darius sneered. "This man was crushed like a gnat."

"Thank you for your astounding insight, Mr. 'I need to carry around a giant axe to feel good about myself'. Did anyone ever tell you you take compensating a bit far?"

"Cool it," Alexander said. "This thing must still be nearby. We have to catch up to it and find out what it wants." As he finished speaking, a quake rocked the house, and screams came from further down the street.

"Well, there we go."

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus**

"HIAH!" Riven yelled as she brought her stone sword down, knocking the metal poker from Zeke's hands once more. The pair were coated in sweat, but only Zeke bore faint traces of blood.

"You're so...so...strong," he gasped, retrieving the poker.

"No need for that anymore. I have a grasp on your style, just need for you to try out two different weapons I think will work well for you. After that, you'll be good to go." Riven disappeared into the shelves, leaving Zeke hanging. He hung for a rather long time before grabbing Irelia.

"Where do you think she went?"

Irelia frowned. "She's usually not gone for this long. But she's a brooder. She worries so much about the past that she barely has time or energy for the now."

"Do you think it's related to her thing about the past?"

"Definitely. She was a veteran of the war in Ionia; I fought against her a few times. She was fine until Singed and Warwick started their chemical attacks...then she lost it. We knew she wanted to win the war, but not like that."

"She believes in strength."

"More to the point, she believes in the Noxian ideal of strength. Dropping packages filled with poison on villages doesn't fit into that. So she left and roamed Freljord for a while, a warrior without a state, until Anivia recruited her for VOID-COM."

"Must have been rough." As Zeke finished, a axe was roughly dropped into his hands.

"If you have enough energy to talk about me, we weren't sparring hard enough. Try that out-it's a Noxian made battleaxe called a Tiamat, and it's the closest thing we've got to a pikeaxe. If you like this, we can have Techmaturgy magically fuse it with a spear to make it a little more familiar for you. Now FIGHT!"

Riven drew her blade in a flash, whirling it around in a horizontal strike. Zeke parried it easily with the flat of the Tiamat, then took a swing of his own at Riven's midsection. The former Noxian jumped back, letting the yellow axe pass inches from her waist, then released a burst of green energy from her sword, blinding Zeke.

"Magic? Not fair!" Riven leaped at him twice, swinging her sword through Zeke's hazy field of vision. He blocked both blows with the haft of the axe. The haze wore off just in time to see Riven leaping through the air with her familiar final strike, a front flip that finished with a powerful downward strike. Zeke stepped to the side and pinned the blade to the floor with his axe as it struck. With a grunt, Riven tried to lift her blade against Zeke's weight and that of the axe sitting atop it.

Zeke shifted his weight, throwing a kick at Riven's jaw that she was helpless to avoid with all of her efforts focused on lifting her blade. The former Noxian stumbled back, letting her blade remain on the floor.

"That's the one." Zeke said.

"No shit."

**Bilgewater**

**Dockside Avenue**

"Out the windows!" Alexander ordered. "Lux, get that thing pinned down!"

"On it!" Lux replied as she vaulted out the window behind the other VOID-COM soldiers, sliding down the roof shingles and landing in a crouch. "Darius, Alex, engage it!" she called, launching a ball of light towards the suited figure assaulting the room.

The two men hefted their weapons and ran towards the...thing, which appeared to be wielding an anchor and covered in an archaic diving suit. With one massive swing, it knocked the two VOID-COM soldiers back several yards. Then it turned back to a man it had pinned against a wall with its other hand. "Did you...serve on...the _Sweeper_...thirty-three years ago?" it asked with a slow, almost robotic voice.

"Yes...yes!" the older man squealed. "What do you want with me?" he cried as the VOID-COM soldiers rose again to their feet.

"You left me to die...I only wish your last moments...to be filled with the fear I felt..." The thing swung back its anchor and smashed it into the man's chest, filling the street with the sound of splintering ribs. "You'll...have to leave...the hatred...to your imagination."

"STOP!" Lux yelled. "Do you understand what you're doing? You're killing innocent people!" The VOID-COM soldiers closed in again; the thing swung its anchor and knocked them back again.

"Not...so...innocent...young one." The beast paused, seemingly in thought. "I cannot remember who I was before...but now, I am Nautilus...vengeance from the depths..." Nautilus turned and threw his anchor at a wall, but it smashed through the wall and didn't hook onto anything. Before he could reel the chain in, he found himself snared in a ring of light. Then a laser beam filled his vision, and then only blackness remained.

Just like before.

**Shurima Desert**

**VOID-COM Nexus**

"...so, in the end, I'd like to put in a request to permanently equip Zeke with the Tiamat. It was the best fit we found for him, and if we meld it with a spear onto it'll be just like the pikeaxe he likes.

"Very good," Anivia replied through the video screen. "Please send the Tiamat to Techmaturgy so they can make the desired modifications. In the meantime, come to Event Containment. I need your help." The screen flicked out.

"Event Containment? I've never been there," Riven said. "Don't even know where it is."

"It's not within the nexus, for safety," Irelia chimed in. "We have to go to the exit stairwell and head down a few flights of stairs. It's at the very bottom of VOID-COM.

**Ten Minutes Later**

**Shurima Desert**

**VOID-COM Event Containment**

"A FEW flights of stairs?" Zeke asked, gasping for breath.

"Well, I may have understated the distance because of my Ionian martial arts training..."

"It was TWENTY FLIGHTS, 'Relly!" Riven gasped. "And we just did four rounds in the Armory!"

Alexander cut in. "Quit it, you three. We have a situation here." He gestured to Nautilus, imprisoned in a techmaturgical cage. "Thing killed 5 people in Bilgewater, but we can't turn him over to the League; they don't have the facilities to contain him."

"And we do?" Anivia asked, flapping into the room from overhead. "Viktor ran some analyses that showed that our containment mechanisms wouldn't survive against Nautilus's strength. They rely on continuous chemical or electrical sedation, which we cannot apply to Nautilus. If he was trying to escape, I think he would have done it already. I think he wants to talk." She turned her head to a nearby technician. "Activate the microphone."

"I do not intend to harm you..." Nautilus spoke through the machine. "My anchor is meant...for those who left me to die..."

"Who?"

"The crew...of the _Sweeper_...thirty-three years ago. We found...a patch of strange liquid...flowing up from the depths...They sent me to investigate in this suit, holding this anchor...I was attacked, set upon...and when they heard my cries for help..." Nautilus held his armored head in his armored hands. "They cut the chain...sailed away...left me to the void..."

"Did he just say 'Void?'" Lux asked, bubbly as ever. "With a capital 'V'?"

"I remember nothing after that...only that I awoke at the bottom of the sea...with nothing but my suit...my anchor...and my thirst for vengeance..."

"Runeterra is not as lawless as it once was." Anivia spoke. "In the time you were gone, a League has been created, that stands above nations. There are tribunals...you could have justice..."

"When you have seen what I have seen...endured the horrors I have endured...then I can believe that there will be justice..."

"I cannot walk along your path, nor can anyone else," Anivia said. "You must tell your story...there can be no justice in the absence of truth, nor war without knowledge of the enemy."

"I have told you all that I remember. Now leave me in peace...or release me to continue my vengeance..."

"Just one more thing." Kassadin asked, having appeared from nowhere. "The night before you were abandoned...what was your heading and coordinates."

"Eleven clicks east of Bilgewater...headed northeast..." The red lights that were Nautilus' "eyes" blinked once, and the group left to the stairwell. Anivia disabled the microphone and remained behind, activating a video screen. "Summoning. A team is coming up from Event Containment. I need you to be ready to summon a team to a location two weeks northeast of Bilgewater harbor by boat. That reminds me: they need a boat. Make it happen."

**Twenty Minutes Later, The High Seas**

**Eleven Clicks east of Bilgewater**

"It's there." Kassadin rasped, leaning over the rail towards the black sludge. "This is the Void. Give me the charges."

"Charges?" Zeke asked. "I didn't know you meant to USE those. Can't you just use your magic to seal the portal?"

"I have to do this in a more physical manner; my magic is not sufficient. I shall return briefly." Kassadin vanished; undersea, he placed four of Viktor's explosive charges in a ring around the Void portal that spewed Icathian goo into the sea. He teleported back to the deck.

"It is done. Detonate."

Undersea, the seafloor collapsed, and the black tar recoiled as if wounded. It sank below the surface, dwindling rapidly.

**One Week Later**

**Reflection Chamber**

The captain and crew took one look at each other, then at the tentacle creeping its way up and around the diver's body, and finally at the black tar that they now noticed was swimming with creatures they had never seen before.

"Why do you want to join the League, Nautilus?"

"Because...this moment...cannot happen again..."

"How does it feel to expose your mind?"

"Unpleasant. But more so for you."

_Author's Note: So, sorry about this one being a bit late. I went on vacation to Hawaii, and I've been pretty occupied with laying on the beach in a semi-vegetative state and hiking on some of the beautiful mountains here. I hope this episode is worth the wait._

_On another note, this is a little short of halfway through the first season. I plan to go to 10 episodes for Season 1, although I may go further if I have more ideas or if there's a lot of interest in more. I have a great plotline on the brain for the next episode in particular, so stay tuned!_


	5. Episode 5: The Council

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus-Central Command**

"Are you quite sure, Summoner?" Anivia asked.

"Yes, that is correct, Anivia," said the male Summoner. "We have had no pings today, with the exception of those coming from the domain of the Ice Dervish-"

"-which I have instructed you to ignore," Anivia finished. "Anything else?"

"However, the Council has requested your presence for a special meeting in Central Command."

"I'll be right there." Anivia turned and hobbled on her talons back through the inner ring to Central. She stopped a passing yordle, saying, "Tell Viktor to activate the parabola."

The yordle quailed. "The-the parabola, Cryophoenix?"

"Yes, the parabola." Seeing the yordle's terror, Anivia added, "And you tell Viktor that if he keeps bullying you yordles I can arrange for him to be returned to the Piltover prison I found him in."

"Yes, Cryophoenix!" the green-furred male squeaked, dashing towards Techmaturgy. Anivia left him to deliver the message, and returned to Central Command where a screen was being attached to the parabola. In the sands above, she knew the parabolic transmission device was slowly raising itself from the sands of the Shurima Desert, no doubt frightening off a few passing camels.

A few seconds later, the screen flicked on, and a shadowy figure appeared in silouette on the screen. "Commander, please clear the room as per regulation," it spoke in a gravelly voice.

"Everyone out." The room instantly cleared of the technicians and command personnel, leaving only Anivia and the Council spokesman.

"What would the Council have of me today?" Anivia asked. "Is there a funding issue, perhaps? Has one of the Council decided to withdraw?"

"We are currently satisfied with your work; no members of the Council will be withdrawing." Anivia let loose an audible sigh of relief. "However, we have a pair of requests that we would like you to complete."

"I would be happy to complete your requests. What are they?"

"We have two missions to present to you. The first is a simple diplomatic entreaty that has become necessary due to recent events. You are aware of the United Kingdom of Freljord, I presume?"

"The kingdom was formed following the dynastic marriage of Ashe, the Frost Archer, and Tryndamere, the Barbarian. At the ceremony, Lissandra the Ice Dervish swore fealty and was declared the Dutchess of the Glacierlands. Sejuani the Winter's Claw refused to attend, and her competing claim for the tundras of Western Freljord has prevented Freljord's full recognition as a League nation."

"Your information is understandably behind, Commander-we were notified of these events mere hours ago ourselves." Anivia blinked in surprise. "Ashe's Freljord state has unexpectedly consolidated its claims to only the land of the Frost Archer and Ice Dervish, which is under her control either by her previous ownership or through her lieges. As such, the full League membership induction ceremony is coming, and the League would like us to be there to explain the terms of VOID-COM membership to the royal family and offer them entry, if they wish."

"I presume there is more to this assignment, since any one of the council members could have carried out the task."

"There is, Commander. We have watched the events in the fiefdom of the Ice Dervish with great interest, and we are worried about the foul magic rumored to be in evidence in Ice Dervish lands having caused Ashe's sudden willingness to give up land she has refused to surrender for all of the past three years. Therefore, we would like you to attend the ceremony yourself, with a VOID-COM security team if you so desire."

"Understood." Anivia could handle boring ceremonies; they were only a blink of an eye for her. "Have you any other requests?"

"Outside of the events in northern Freljord, we have been told that you have not detected any Void activity in the past week?"

"That is correct. Additionally, we have sealed a suspected Void portal off the shore of-"

"We are aware of the destruction of the Bilgewater portal, Commander. Since your efforts have been so successful recently, and your teams showed excellent diplomacy in working with outside assistance in Ionia and showing understanding to the being known as Nautilus, we have decided to offer you a more...philanthropic...assignment then you usually undertake."

"I don't quite understand."

"Commander, we have recieved a request through League channels from the champion known as Skarner. He has requested assistance in finding and unearthing the other surviving brackern, buried deep in the catacombs beneath Kalamanda. We trust that we will have your assistance in this matter."

"My soldiers have better things to do then extracting a long-dead race from the ground."

"As a reward, Skarner has promised one of the survivors as a member of VOID-COM's battle team if any brackern are unearthed alive." Anivia almost fell out of the air in surprise; the Brackern were an extremely powerful race with many abilities that would be useful to VOID-COM in the field. "This will be a long term assignment; however, you may rotate teams for this mission at your discretion."

Anivia thought for a moment. "We'll do it. Will that be all?"

"We will stay in touch, Commander." The screen flickered out, and the technicians returned to their stations. Anivia landed, suddenly feeling a rush of wooziness.

"Are you alright, Cryophoenix?" one man asked.

"I'm fine." Anivia straightened up. "Prepare a summoning room; I must depart immediately for Freljord."

"Would you like a guard, Commander?"

"I'll manage. Also, tell the B team to meet me at Summoning-I have a mission for them."

"Not the A team?"

"This is below them, I think. Besides, what would happen if there was a ping while I was gone?"

"Very well, Commander."

**Ten Minutes Later**

**The VOID-COM Nexus-Summoning Chambers**

The group Anivia had labeled the B team had gathered in the Summoning antechamber. Irelia, Riven, Zeke, and Emilia had just arrived, armed to the teeth and in full combat armor. She was unhappy to disappoint them.

"Soldiers, I am about to leave for Freljord on a diplomatic mission."

"Are we to be your honor guard, Commander?" Zeke asked.

"No," Anivia said, seeing the crestfallen looks on the group's faces. "Instead, you will be summoned to Kalamanda, where your presence has been requested for a mission."

"What's this mission?"

"You will meet Skarner on site; he will inform you of the mission's objectives. I trust you will carry out whatever task he has requested with aplomb."

"But-"

"Oh, come on-"

"No combat?"

"Ladies." Anivia said, "And gentleman. This mission is out of my feathers; it was assigned to us by the Council. More I cannot say; it is protocol." The Cryophoenix waddled into the left summoning chamber. "Now, I must go. I trust you will carry out this mission?"

"Yes, Commander..." Irelia sighed.

"Then we shall meet again at the end, yes? Good. I shall be off." Anivia turned to the summoner. "Cast the spell, please." A moment later, the commander was gone.

"Irelia," Emilia asked, "Who is the 'Council'?"

Zeke chimed in,"I'm very interested to know that as well."

Irelia sighed; it seemed to be becoming a habit. "The Council is a group made up of representatives from each of the VOID-COM funding nations. That's Noxus, Demacia, Ionia, and Bandle City as of right now. The Council meets once a month to decide on the continued funding VOID-COM recieves, as well as any time they decide to request a special mission of us. They are represented by a spokesman, the identity of whom is unknown to all except the Council."

"What if we stay here and blow off their mission?" Riven asked. "I'd like to get Zeke a little more practice with that Tiamat."

"Well, if VOID-COM doesn't do what the Council wants, then the Council stops funding us," Irelia said cheerily. "And if the Council stops funding us, then me, Darius, and Lux go home, Kassadin and Zilean keep fighting the Void together, Riven and Viktor go back to their life sentences in various prisons, and Zeke and Alexander here are both killed because they're supposed to be dead anyways."

"You better get on the platform then," Riven muttered, barging past Irelia, "because I'm not going to some Demacian prison."

**Averosa, Freljord**

**The Palace of the Frost Archer**

"Anivia!" shouted Ashe as Anivia entered the throne room. "How glad I am to see you again!"

"It's my pleasure," the Cryophoenix said. "May we speak in private before the ceremony?"

"Of course," Ashe replied warmly. "Come back here, into my private chambers." The pair stepped through a door nestled in the corner of the throne room. "You know, I really missed you these past few years. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, this and that."

"They were hard for me. Learning to rule without your constant counsel."

"You did an amazing job for one of your age." Anivia said, wrapping her wings about Ashe. "Though you have been friends to Runeterra for a long time, only now have you shown the diplomacy to relinquish that which is not yours. You need my counsel no longer, nor have you needed it for years."

"Thank you. That means much to me." The pair stood in silence for a while. Finally, Ashe asked, "So, why come back now?"

"I came to observe your gain of full League recognition. Four years ago, you became a queen, but today you become a great woman. If I could choose to be present at only one, I would prefer the latter. Now, you should make yourself presentable. Wouldn't want you to accept the League's recognition covered in my feathers."

**League Administered Territory of Kalamanda**

**The Crystal Scar**

"Hello, VOID-COM soldiers. I am Skarner."

"The last of the Brackern?"

"I would like to find out if any of my kin are still alive in the caves beneath Kalamanda and the Crystal Scar, and whether it would be possible to revive them. Of course, more eyes searching..."

"Of course we'll help you," Irelia said warmly, masking her contempt for the task. "What are we looking for?"

"Down in the caves, there are crystals marking the way to the great caverns in which we entered our great sleep. Once we reach a cavern, the medic-"

"-that's me." Emilia cut in.

"-will check to see if any members of my race remain alive."

"Excellent. Let's get started." Zeke took a few steps forward and froze as memories of past battles resurfaced in his mind...

_He was in Kalamanda. From the other side of the Bloody Ring, the campfires of the Noxian interlopers stained the sunset with black smoke. His liegelord, Jarvan the Fourth of Demacia, sat next to him, looking over the mining crater teeming with rivers of blood worming their way into the mining tunnels, forever staining the rock red. He turned to Jarvan, trying to think of something to say-_

_-and he was on the battlefield, whirling his pikeaxe back and forth and watching the entrails of the Noxians in front of him spill onto the ground. Jarvan called out to him, and he realized that in his frenzy he had extended too far-_

_-the Noxians, damn them all, spilled from the jungle, surrounding him and Jarvan. The two stood back to back, blocking blades while they waited for the High Guard to arrive. Zeke's pikeaxe was knocked from his hands. He whipped a dagger from his sleeve and stabbed downwards at the scum. It flew straight through the air where the Noxian had been; in the Noxian's place, he saw a yordle, diving at his ankles with a needle in her hands._

_The needle drove deep into his leg, bringing with it a deep stab of pain, then silence._

**Averosa, Freljord**

**The Palace of the Frost Archer**

"Under the authority of the High Councilor, we are glad to extend the full recognition of the League to the United Freljord State!"

The crowd cheered, and Ashe, Tryndamere, and Lissandra each accepted laurel wreaths before retreating to the private chambers. Anivia met them inside.

"Now that you are full members of the League, I have the authority to make you aware temporarily of an organization behind the League known as VOID-COM. We investigate and fight against the Void far from the prying eyes of men. If you would like to join the VOID-COM council, you will be granted a seat on the Council and a voice in its affairs in exchange for eight percent of your yearly tax revenue and the use of one of your League champions for VOID-COM affairs, which need not remain the same. Do you accept these terms?"

"I do." Ashe said. "Tryndamere, do you approve?"

"If it'll keep those Voidlings out of my land!"

"OUR land, Tryndamere." Ashe said. "We accept. Who should we send to the Council?"

"Since you have affairs of your own, we recommend you make one of your representatives your messenger to the Council. Your memory of who you choose will be wiped to preserve the secrecy of VOID-COM and the integrity of the Council, so choose wisely."

"I will represent Freljord." Lissandra said suddenly.

"Lissandra, we were thinking of sending someone less important..." Ashe began.

"I wasn't thinking of representing us that way," Lissandra spoke. A burst of cold radiated from her body, freezing the monarchy solid. "I was thinking more of...a mission of conquest." Anivia reared up, a burst of ice emerging from her beak; Lissandra vanished into a claw of ice, reappearing behind Anivia, who she felled with a single incantation.

"Now...you are MINE once and for all, Cryophoenix..." she whispered coyly into Anivia's ears. "Give in to the rage...my rage...accept my power, as Freljord demands..." Lissandra began reciting an incantation, word after twisted word slipping off her tongue as Anivia curled into a shaking ball of feathers at her feet.

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus**

"Something's wrong with the Cryophoenix!" a summoner shouted.

"Return her immediately." The summoning spell was ended slowly, and within a few seconds Anivia returned to the receiving pad, curled into a ball.

Lissandra stood behind her.

"Open your wings and eyes, Cryophoenix," she hissed. "Accept your one true mistress."

Anivia rose, a black crest forming over her wings and masking her eyes.

"I...am...Blackfrost."

_Obviously, this episode is going to be a two-parter. I'll finish this one off next Wednesday; in the eantime, tell me what you think!_


	6. Episode 6: Blackfrost

_Previously on VOID-COM:_

_"Ashe's Freljord state has unexpectedly consolidated its claims to only the land of the Frost Archer and Ice Dervish, which is under her control either by her previous ownership or through her lieges. As such, the full League membership induction ceremony is coming, and the League would like us to be there to explain the terms of VOID-COM membership to the royal family and offer them entry, if they wish."_

_"Though you have been friends to Runeterra for a long time, only now have you shown the diplomacy to relinquish that which is not yours."_

_"Under the authority of the High Councilor, The United Kingdoms of the Frost Archer and Ice Dervish are now full members of the League of Legends!"_

_"Now that you are members of the League, I have the authority to inform you temporarily of an organization behind the League called VOID-COM. We investigate and fight against the Void behind the scenes. If you would like to join the VOID-COM council, you will be granted a seat on a Council and a voice in our management in exchange for 8% of your yearly revenue and the use of one of your League champions in our operations."_

_"Oh, Cryophoenix, I shall not join VOID-COM." Lissandra paused, licking her frozen lips. "Now, and forever, I am VOID-COM. Aren't I, Anivia?"_

**League Administered Territory of Kalamanda**

**The Crystal Scar**

Zeke slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying flat on the ground, with the diminuitive medic Emilia standing over him.

"You kinda went crazy for a bit there, Zeke. I'm going to have you sent back to base, but first I want to know what you were seeing. I need it for the diagnosis."

"I was...I was..."

"Don't worry about saying it. I gave you an injection to prevent you from having another attack. Better to let it out then to keep it inside and risk another problem."

"It was my days in Kalamanda," Zeke said. "With Prince Jarvan the Fourth. When all of the precious metals were discovered by a Piltover explorer, and announced to the world, you knew the Noxians weren't going to just let the rightful finders have the mining rights."

"Don't think the Demacians did that either...you're not guiltless either."

"No, but we're not the only ones with blood on their hands. Before long some Freljordians showed up. Then the Ionians. Then the Piltover army. Yes, they did find the stuff first, and their army was the last one there because they could hardly believe that we were going to steal the stuff from right under their noses."

"And what did they do?" Emilia asked. "What did YOU do?"

"We all did the same thing. Drew our swords." Zeke closed his eyes, shaking his head. "It was a bloodbath, you have to understand. Thousands of soldiers from five nations all funneled into one tiny crater. The worst of it was in the caves. I wasn't down there, but the few who made it out spoke of crystal claws that ripped soldiers limb from limb, of stingers that left the stung a statue of quartz. But I...I always kept our flag held high..and it became something more than a flag at the end. It was Zeke's Herald. MY herald; the flag that never fell, but stood tall through the bloody days and nights."

"Does the herald still fly?" Irelia asked tenderly, having appeared from a tent across the road.

"It does. Jarvan has it in his throne room."

"We may need to acquire that flag." Irelia said.

"What do you mean?" Zeke demanded, sitting up. "It's just a flag!"

"But it may have gained powers. Lord Van Damm's Pillager was just a mace and chain until it was used. The Zeals were ordinary steel before they were crafted. The Rakkorian Aegis was just a shield until it became a symbol of the legion's strength."

"Your point is?"

"The flag could have acquired dangerous properties. We need to acquire it as soon as possible."

Emilia cut in. "First, we go back to VOID-COM and make sure Zeke's taken care of. Irelia, send us back."

"Something came up." Irelia said, putting her hand to her ear. "We need temporary extraction. Pull us out." Blue circles formed around the group's feet. Then they vanished, but the group was still there.

"What happened?" Zeke asked.

"Something's going on at base." Irelia said. "They can't return us."

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus**

Lissandra released a blast of ice, mowing down the summoners gathered in the room. They crashed to the ground, their purple robes frozen or stabbed through with icicles.

"Fools."

"We should leave immediately," Blackfrost rasped. "The noise will have alerted the others."

"So there are others," Lissandra replied. "How many?" she asked, striding to the door.

Blackfrost flapped into the air behind Lissandra, and the two left the summoning room looking rather like a little slice of Freljord. "Twenty unarmed technicians, ten mages in training, five off-duty summoners, and two backup VOID-COM squads."

"Sounds like quite the force for a top-secret organization." As Lissandra spoke, alarms sounded, and steel barriers fell from the ceiling. Lissandra easily bypassed the walls with her ice claw spell, dragging Blackfrost along with her.

In the inner hallway, doors continued to seal themselves, locking Lissandra and Blackfrost in together in the inner ring with only one place to go. Central Command.

**VOID-COM Central Command**

**One Minute Ago**

Viktor dashed about Central, tapping keys at various machines. Each key activated another security measure, whether it was tipping the VOID-COM soldiers out of their beds in the barracks, sealing off the Summoning sector, or raising the general alarm.

The last switch summoned Kassadin from the Memory Room. He appeared instantly in Central, looking and sounding rather unhappy.

"ANOTHER INTERRUPTION?" he asked contemtuously, until he realized that Anivia was nowhere to be found. "Viktor, do you understand how important these memories are."

"VOID-COM is under attack," Viktor said in an almost robotic tone. "The Freljordian Lissandra has coopted Anivia and penetrated VOID-COM. A base-wide lockdown has been initiated."

"Can you seal them out of here as well?"

"Activating the Central Command seal would be illogical; our biological components would be starved for air and sustenance long before those of the immortal Cryophoenix and the possibly immortal Lissandra." Viktor's unmonocled eye twinkled. "However, I have a contingency plan for this scenario." He removed his monocle, passing it to Kassadin. "You will find Lux in Barracks Room C. Give her this, then escort her to the base of the main stairwell. She will know how to use it."

"And you, my..." Kassadin was surprised to discover that he was worried about Viktor. "My ally. What will you do?"

"I will make sure that they are in the right place at the right time." Kassadin teleported out of the room, leaving Viktor alone in the rapidly cooling room. Working quickly as he listened to Blackfrost and Lissandra's progress towards Central Command's entrance, he dashed to a control console at the back of the room and tapped out a password, then a pair of commands.

"Operation will take five minutes," the computer chimed into his earpiece. "Please confirm." As the computer finished, Blackfrost and Lissandra reached the entrance. With a flash of his enhanced fingers, Viktor muted the speakers and confirmed the second of the two operation s before ducking behind the console and reaching for a hexagonal wafer he carried on his belt.

Lissandra and Blackfrost moved swiftly to the center of the room. "Stand back, mistress," said Blackfrost. "The command computers are coded to my magical signatures, and will not respond to you." Behind the console, Viktor decided to add another device of his for good measure-a pair of mana crystals inside a tube that would be crushed at the push of a button, releasing all of their stored energy in a spray around the tube.

The central computer pinged. "Access accepted." Viktor sighed; the first of his commands had worked properly. The system had accepted Blackfrost's signature instead of immediately rejecting it, which would buy him time and allow him to keep Anivia and Blackfrost in the line of fire for his second command to work properly.

"What do you wish of me, mistress?"

"Seal the barracks, and disable surface ventilation. We can defeat all of the soldiers without laying a feather upon them." Blackfrost's talons tapped away, activating the seals on VOID-COM's surface vents. The facility was now airtight.

"Now, disable the lockdown. We must leave immediately." Blackfrost obeyed the instructions, and as she typed Viktor revealed himself, throwing his two inventions at the central platform. A silver wafer opened into a six-pointed star, projecting a purple hemisphere above which the crushed mana crystals released their energy in a fearsome blast of lightning. Inside the sphere, Blackfrost and Lissandra remained paralyzed as the hextricity ravaged their bodies.

Viktor laughed out loud at the success of his inventions.

Until the field vanished, leaving Blackfrost and Lissandra staring blankly at Viktor.

"Blackfrost. Kill."

A voice pinged in Viktor's ear. "2 minutes remaining."

**VOID-COM Nexus**

**The Outer Ring**

Kassadin appeared as if from nowhere, Lux in his arms. She shook in his arms as if seeing a vision, but quickly recovered.

"You know," she shivered, "you should really put a classified ad in the Demacian Prophet. Eligible bachelor who likes hugs and long walks in the Void..."

"SILENCE. We are experiencing an emergency. Viktor would like you to use his monocle-he said you would know how."

"THAT kind of emergency?" Lux frowned, and raised the monocle to her eye.

"Luxanna Crownguard-Identity confirmed," spoke the speaker. "Engaging focusing lenses." From the ceiling, focusing lenses folded out.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kassadin demanded.

"With these...I can focus my light for pinpoint accuracy. The aiming points of the lenses are adjusted through the monocle. Which may be necessary to...eliminate...Anivia."

**VOID-COM Nexus**

**Central Command**

Viktor dove behind a console as another volley of ice blasts barely missed, shattering against the metal. In his ear, the computer told him that he had thirty seconds remaining until his operation was complete. He wasn't sure if he would last that long, especially with the way the room was chilling.

"You cannot hide forever!" shouted a voice from behind him. He turned too late to see Lissandra behind him, firing a volley of icicles that impaled him. The little flesh remaining in his body screamed in agony as he slumped to the floor. Lissandra grabbed his chin, turning it towards her.

"How do I end the lockdown?" Viktor remained silent-a voice told him there were ten seconds remaining. "Tell me, and I may flash freeze you instead of leaving you to freeze or suffocate."

Viktor remained silent.

All at once, the long row of doors forming the main corridor unsealed and lowered themselves, revealing the lines of focusing lenses filling the hallways, whose walls had flipped to reveal mirrors. Viktor's third mechanical arm fired a jet of plasma into Lissandra's face, scalding her. Then two laser blasts filled the halls, vaporizing the heads of both Lissandra and Blackfrost before they could react.

Minutes later. Lux staggered into the room, followed by Kassadin and the rest of VOID-COM. "What happened?" seemed to be the question on everyone's minds. Unfortunately, there were no answers yet.

Only the rapidly cooling bodies of Viktor and Lissandra, and the egg of the Cryophoenix.


	7. Episode 7: Capture the Flag

**Garnol City, Demacia**

**The Royal Palace**

Quickly, Riven dashed over to Irelia's limp form, grabbing the flag from inside her outfit. Using one of the Ionian's blades, she quickly sliced up the flag, using the one hanging from the front of the room as a guide. She heard footsteps coming from the hallways; there was no time to lose. Riven slid the flag off of the pole, replacing it with the one she had just cut.

The door Irelia's blades were embedded in slammed open once more, and Garen charged from the door wielding his massive sword. "DEMACIA!" he roared as members of the High Guard ran in around him.

There was no time to lose. Riven scooped up Irelia's lightly breathing form from the ground and ran out the door. On the palace lawn, she could hear the alarm being sounded, and off-duty guards leaving their barracks well armed.

She raised her hand to her ear. "Riven to base! We swapped the flag, but the High Guard is after us! I need immediate extraction!"

A summoner's voice promptly replied in her ear, "Stand still for ten seconds and we can get you back here!"

"I don't have ten seconds! The High Guard's right behind me!"

**Twelve Hours Earlier**

**Shurima Desert**

**The X on the Map**

"...and as we consign our friend Viktor to the Shuriman sands, we shall keep in our hearts and minds what he died for: a Runeterra safe from the devastating touch of the Void." Zilean finished.

The assembled members of VOID-COM clapped gently, worrying less about the death of Viktor (who had preferred his mechanical contraptions to interacting with biological life) then the life of VOID-COM. After all, Viktor's body was found riddled with icicles left by a visitor let in by the Commander, who herself was engaging in a fight for her soul, if not her life. These thoughts remained on their minds as Zilean levitated the metal coffin, then teleported it beneath the sands, never to be seen again through the eyes of man.

Suddenly, the exposed door of the VOID-COM base swung open.

"Who's coming out?" Irelia wondered, sitting next to Zeke and Riven.

"I would have thought everyone would have been in attendance."

From the door, a humanoid figure made of bronze emerged. It spoke, "Hello. I have come to...eulogize...my creator, Viktor."

"Viktor created you? You look more like a creation of Corin Reveck. Like his...Orianna."

"REVECK?" the robot roared. "Reveck was just another idea thief. My creator lent him his design because he felt a human pity for him. The design-no, the CREATION was his."

"And what does he call you?"

The robot hesitated, then spoke. "My name is...VIKbot."

**VOID-COM Nexus**

**Event Containment**

Kassadin stood silently on the concrete floor, gazing at the chamber that held Anivia's egg. Zilean had described the revival process as restarting Anivia's brain, but there was no way to tell whether she had been cleansed of the late Lissandra's influence until she awoke.

Aboveground, the funeral continued apace. But as acting commander ever since Anivia had fallen, he had to accept the duty of keeping watch on the cryophoenix's egg. Soon, other members of VOID-COM filed in, standing silently behind Kassadin. They watched for hours, shivering in the artificial cold created by the egg. More and more members of VOID-COM showed up as the hours passed by, waiting for something, anything, a sign of life springing from the jaws of death.

At last, the egg began to shudder.

"BACK." Kassadin ordered. "We must determine Anivia's state of mind. I want everyone except the soldiers out of the room now." The technicians headed up the stairs to return to their work, while the few summoners VOID-COM had remaining stepped behind a glass shield, remaining ready to cast spells of healing or exhaustion if the situation called for it.

Minutes passed as the egg continued to shake. Finally, it split along its width before popping open to reveal an exhausted Anivia standing in the pieces of crushed eggshell.

"Kassadin...what...happened?" she asked, followed by a coughing spree.

"You were possessed by the Ice Witch Lissandra, until we subdued you and transported your egg here. You've been recovering in Event Containment for a week."

"The...Freljord royal family? That is the last thing I remember...I tried to stop her, but she was too powerful." Anivia leaned into the glass wall of the containment chamber. "Kassadin, what have I wrought?"

Kassadin's empathy, destroyed by his time in the Void, struggled to keep Kassadin silent before he uttered something tactless. It did not succeed. "Commander, you and Lissandra were accidentally summoned back upon your defeat. Together, you killed half of the VOID-COM summoners, as well as the head techmaturgy specialist, Viktor, who tried to stop you from killing the remaining VOID-COM personnel in their beds," Kassadin said. "Additionally, the Freljord royal family did not survive their experience, and the nation itself has dissolved into a mess of warring factions."

"We must pray that the damage is not long lasting..." Anivia mused. "After you confirm my mental recovery, I will require at least two days of rest before I regain my full physical and magical faculties. I trust you will be willing and able to command VOID-COM until I recover?"

"I am, Commander."

"Then...best of luck." Anivia yawned, closing her eyes and shuffling to a more comfortable position.

Kassadin turned to leave the room, and the soldiers followed him. "Summoners, begin the examination. Soldiers, go to the barracks and rest. Riven and Irelia, retrieve the artifact from Demacia." Then he teleported away.

"Yes, Kass-and he's gone." Irelia gestured at two of the Summoners, and they began to ascend the stairs behind Irelia and Riven. "Riven, you heard Zeke when he was talking about the thing, right?"

"Yes, the flag was on the front lines during Kalamanda. Do you think we have to steal the whole staff or just the flag?" Riven frowned.

"Probably just the flag. We can steal one from a pole in the city, tear it up a bit, and replace it with the one in the throne room."

"Sounds like a good plan. How do you plan to get past the guards?"

"I was thinking you would handle the swap after I distracted the guards at the gate. Once you're inside you can just pretend to be one of Jarvan's concubines and-"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"

"Oh, come on, Riven, you looked so cute in that bunny outfit-"

"How about YOU put on something skimpy and let the guards grope you this time?" Riven yelled a little too firmly while Irelia laughed.

"Alright, alright, I'm just kidding. You need to lighten up a bit, Riv." Sometimes when Irelia laughed it seemed like her blades were too. In a more substantially dangerous way. "We can reuse the thief costumes. You know, the one where I'm the mysterious legendary thief C and you're a Noxian assassin? I always liked that one."

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you used that disguise? You know, when we were grabbing the Liandry mask from the Piltover museum? You were in the hospital for a month after Caitlyn shot you up-"

"-and last time you did the Noxian assassin, some Demacian commoner with a pet pigeon beat your little cotton tail so hard we had to use summoner spells to make sure you weren't caught. SUMMONER SPE-ahahahahaha!" The armorers reached the barracks ring, and headed to their room to suit up.

"You know what the difference is between a rabbit and you? The rabbit gets laid a lot more."

"Ooh-right in the chest, Riven!" Irelia said as they began to don their disguises. "You know, that thing right above your lungs that bulges out if you're a woman?"

"Very funny, miss 'Make Riven dress up as a bunny'! If I didn't see you cutting open Zeke's pants on his first day I'd think you got off on that kind of thing."

Irelia shrugged. "Lot of people do. If you'd stop doing the whole 'guys I'm an exile, please feel sorry for me' act and started showing off a little more, you wouldn't have to use that sword to compensate." The pair left the room and headed to the summoner's ring, cracking jokes all the while.

A robed summoner greeted them. "You're using THOSE disguises again?"

"We're just bringing back the classics-"

"If I have to cast any spells this time-"

"We can handle ourselves. What time is it in Demacia right now?"

"Sun just set."

"Perfect. Drop us in the main square."

**Garnol City, Demacia**

**Crownguard Square**

Riven and Irelia appeared in the empty main square, dressed in full body black. The sun had fallen, and the streets were darkened except for the avenue leading to the royal palace.

The two knew each others movements well enough to execute their plan without reminders or talk. Irelia released two of her blades, sending them flying at the flag flapping in the night wind. The red cloth was almost caught by the wind before Riven leaped into the air and caught it, landing silently on all fours. She handed the flag to Irelia, who stuffed it into her outfit and headed down a side street.

"I don't like this way of doing things." Riven whispered. "It feels cowardly."

"If you want to test your strength against every guard in this palace as well as the Prince, feel free. I'm gonna sneak around." The pair reached the wall of the palace grounds, and Irelia drew a rope from inside her outfit. "Riv, help me up. I'll toss this down to you."

Riven held her sword flat in the air, and Irelia positioned her four blades below it before stepping on top of the flat of Riven's sword. "One, two, three!" The blades smashed the blade upwards, knocking Irelia onto the parapet, where she silently alighted. The Ionian tied the rope and tossed it down to Riven, who quickly hauled herself up.

The pair crept down the stairs and towards the throne room, nestled in the front of the large keep occupying the castle grounds. Outside, they were stopped short by the sound of voices coming from within the throne room.

"SHIT!" Riven whispered. "They're still awake. What do we do now?"

Irelia thought for a moment. "The guard patrols will come through here eventually, so we can't wait for them to leave. If we sneak around the back and enter through the royal residence, we could run into guards or the prince himself on the way. I think we fight." She reached for the door handle; Riven wrenched her hand away. "I thought you wanted to do that all along?"

"We can't use our weapons! They'll break our disguise!"

"Wait. I have an idea." Irelia withdrew her blades from her cloak. Two floated in front of Riven, and two slotted themselves into Irelia's hands. "Use these like knives."

"Alright..." Riven grabbed the blades and bent towards the door. "One...two...three!"

The pair threw open the doors to see Jarvan sitting in the chair, laughing and talking with three men in High Guard uniforms. The men froze, then drew their weapons.

"Don't kill the prince!" Irelia yelled as the pair dashed with nearly inhuman speed towards the soldiers. "Just knock him out!"

"Got it!" Riven yelled. She threw one of the blades at a guard carrying a spear, stabbing him through the eye. As he fell, the blade wooshed out of the man's skull and returned to her hand. On the other side of the room, she saw Irelia grab a man by the arm and sweep his legs out from under him. The two crashed to the ground together, where Irelia bashed his head against the ground to knock him out before throwing her blades at a guardsman who was opening a door near the back of the throne room. The blades embedded themselves an inch deep, and immediately began fighting to free themselves.

Jarvan leaped at Irelia, spear in hand, while her pair of blades were embedded in the door; she sidestepped the first stab. The second sliced a rent through her black outfit. On the other side of the throne room, Riven was tackled by a high guardsman, sending Irelia's other two blades clattering to the ground, out of reach unless Irelia decided to reveal herself.

"I know not which nation you serve, but you won't take me alive!" Jarvan roared as he whirled his spear around, smacking Irelia in the head with the butt of the lance. She collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

Jarvan left Irelia unconscious on the floor of the throne room, walking over to Riven, who had been pinned to the floor by the much larger Demacian soldier. "Let's see what you look like under that mask, assassin!" he yelled, reaching to pull off Riven's face covering.

Riven released a Ki burst, knocking the two Demacians back. Leaping to her feet, she dispatched the guard with a punch before turning back to Jarvan. He stabbed out with the spear, and Riven sidestepped, catching it by the shaft. They grappled for a few violent seconds before Riven used the lance as a fulcrum, leaping off of it and kicking Jarvan square on the jaw. The prince fell, unconscious.

Quickly, Riven dashed over to Irelia's limp form, grabbing the flag from inside her outfit. Using one of the Ionian's blades, she quickly sliced up the flag, using the one hanging from the front of the room as a guide. She heard footsteps coming from the hallways; there was no time to lose. Riven slid the flag off of the pole, replacing it with the one she had just cut.

The door Irelia's blades were embedded in slammed open once more, and Garen charged from the door wielding his massive sword. "DEMACIA!" he roared as members of the High Guard ran in around him.

There was no time to lose. Riven scooped up Irelia's lightly breathing form from the ground and ran out the door. On the palace lawn, she could hear the alarm being sounded, and off-duty guards leaving their barracks well armed.

She raised her hand to her ear. "Riven to base! We swapped the flag, but the High Guard is after us! I need immediate extraction!"

A summoner's voice promptly replied in her ear, "Stand still for ten seconds and we can get you back here!"

"I don't have ten seconds! The High Guard's right behind me!"

"If you're about to be captured, remove all signs of VOID-COM and wait to be recovered by a VOID-COM agent."

"I can get away! Just be ready to summon me when I call!" Riven gasped for air as she sprinted up the stairs leading to the battlements. From the castle, she heard a roar, and a blast of flame lit her fleeing form up clear as day. On the parapet, she realized her mistake too late; the castle wall was too high to jump from. She imagined herself breaking her leg in the fall, then being dragged off to the dungeons where she would be tortured for hours by Demacians seeking the faction backing her assault.

Then Riven had an idea.

She jumped over the parapet wall, hanging on with her free hand while Irelia lay on her other shoulder like a bag of potatoes. The Noxian almost cried out in pain as gravity attempted to rip her arm from her socket.

"Get me out of here!" she grunted. Boots ran across the castle wall, not noticing Riven's bare hand gripping to the stone wall. She resisted the growing demand of her body to scream. Suddenly, her shoulder jerked, and a burning pain filled her arm from hand to shoulder.

But the blue light had formed around her and Riven. As she was summoned back to VOID-COM, the last thing she saw was an armored dragon flying overhead, roaring its fury to the night.


	8. Episode 8: The Switch

_Previously on VOID-COM:_

_"Open your wings and eyes, Cryophoenix," Lissandra hissed. "Accept your_ one_ true mistress."_

_Anivia rose, a black crest forming over her wings and masking her eyes._

_"I...am...Blackfrost."_

_"The...Freljord royal family? That is the last thing I remember...I tried to stop her, but she was too powerful." Anivia leaned into the glass wall of the containment chamber. "Kassadin, what have I wrought?"_

_"Commander, you and Lissandra were accidentally summoned back upon your defeat. Together, you killed half of the VOID-COM summoners, as well as the head techmaturgy specialist, Viktor, who tried to stop you from killing the remaining VOID-COM personnel in their beds," Kassadin said. "Additionally, the Freljord royal family did not survive their experience, and the nation itself has dissolved into a mess of warring factions."_

_"Get me out of here!" Riven grunted. Boots ran across the castle wall, not noticing Riven's bare hand gripping to the stone wall. She resisted the growing demand of her body to scream. Suddenly, her shoulder jerked, and a burning pain filled her arm from hand to shoulder._

_But the blue light had formed around her and Riven. As she was summoned back to VOID-COM, the last thing she saw was an armored dragon flying overhead, roaring its fury to the night._

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus**

**Weekly Status Report**

"...and Zilean, how are the healers doing on Riven and Irelia?" Anivia asked, perched on a steel rod while Zilean and VIKbot sipped fine Ionian tea and mechanical lube respectively.

"Irelia's injury is much more severe then Riven's-being bashed in the head with the butt of a spear is not a trifling injury even when the spear is not in the hands of his majesty Jarvan the Fourth. We will need additional time to determine if her mental faculties have been damaged in addition to the cracked skull and bloodied face." Zilean paused, caught in a brief fit of chrono-dysplasia. "Riven, on the other hand, suffered a major, painful dislocation of the shoulder when she hung from her arm while carrying Irelia. The injury was quickly repaired, but she needs to do nothing more then light sparring to ensure that the injury is not reaggravated."

"Understood, Zilean. Perhaps we could assign her to the Kalamanda squad for a week or so?"

"IF I MAY, CRYOPHOENIX," VIKbot cut in. "I could quickly construct a mechanical joint that would improve on nature's iteration by 75% in strength, 25% in flexibility, and 90% in failure rate-"

"If Riven consents to such a modification, then I should have no objection...However, I wouldn't hold your..." Anivia thought briefly, struggling to find an appropriate word. After a while, she simply gave up, letting the sentence hang in the air.

All of a sudden, the doors burst open, revealing Luxanna Crownguard clad in a brown and red traveling tunic and leggings. She carried her VOID-COM uniform under one arm and her light staff in the other hand.

"Zilean, I present my uniform," Lux said, bowing sardonically. "Can we get this whole 'mental block' thing over with?"

"You're leaving, Lux?" Anivia asked, astonished.

"Demacia calls, Commander. Don't worry that you're losing me; Demacia is sending a replacement that will arrive in about a week's time. And if you really need a mage, maybe old whiskers over there can suit up."

"Perhaps my younger self," Zilean mused before promptly reliving a particularly randy memory of his from a long time ago. Chrono-dysplasia did come in handy sometimes.

"Pray tell, Lux, who is your replacement?" Anivia queried.

"Her name is Shyvana. And don't make her angry. She tends to turn into a dragon-"

"A half dragon?" Anivia exclaimed. "I thought the Celestial Dragons no longer consorted with humans after the whole fiasco with Nashor a thousand years ago-"

"They've stopped now," Lux said cheerily. She gripped Zilean by the hand. "Old man, can we do this procedure so I can leave? I can't wait to see my brother again." The two turned for the door...

...until they were roughly stopped by a beam of plasma from VIKbot's eyes. "Commander, that may be a problem."

"I see no problem. At least she'll fight, unlike half the people around here-"

"Commander, your mind wiping procedures will not work properly on Shyvana."

"What do you mean, VIKbot?"

"Being a half dragon, half human, she has different aspects of dragons and humans mixed together to form a being completely unique in both the faculties of the mind and the functions of the body."

"There's certainly a precedent for that." Zilean muttered. "The Baron Nashor was born with the form and longevity of a Celestial Wyrm but the magical talent of a human spellcaster. It nearly destroyed Valoran."

"My point is that while Shyvana has not showed herself to be a dangerous half-dragon," VIKbot said," her mind is impossible to secure since it is split into two parts that only come into contact during her transformation. Transfiguration is usually a spell cast, but in this case it is a marvelous natural work of engineering hardwired into her every cell. Even if you cast your mind blocking spell, she will remember everything upon transforming into a dragon, and she will keep those memories upon returning to a human."

"What if, upon her departure, we forced her to enter her draconic form, then executed two mind blocks in quick succession, one in dragon form and one immediately when she returned to human form?"

"She would remember being mind wiped, which would definitely set off alarm bells when she returns to the Demacians after her tour of duty." Zilean sighed. "On the other hand, we cannot refuse a rotation request from a Council member."

"I will personally meet Shyvana on the surface, and we will assign her to the Kalamanda mission; this way, she will not see anyone she isn't supposed to see, nor will she learn the correct location or view the interior of VOID-COM. However, after the Kalamanda mission ends we will need to have another solution devised to keep her from confidential information."

**VOID-COM Nexus-Barracks**

**Gymnasium**

Zeke hefted his improvised pikeaxe, made from the Tiamat tied to a spear, and nodded to his training partner, Darius, who was polishing the massive axe he normally wielded. While the pair weren't exactly friendly, their memory too tainted by their experiences in Kalamanda, they had warmed up to each other enough to spar every now and then in the gymnasium.

The two walked to the door, then paused, hearing a pair of voices groaning behind it.

"Ooh...yes".

"Aah..."

The pair looked at each other, unblinking, and paused. Then they opened the doors.

Irelia and Riven lay several feet apart in the center of the gym, contorted in strange positions. As they shifted through different, increasingly strenous stretches, they groaned.

Zeke and Darius looked at each other again. They said nothing.

Finally, the pair finished their excercises. Riven looked up first.

"This must look really bad," she said.

"No shit," Darius replied.

"But why would it look bad?" Irelia chimed in. "It's Ionian meditative stretching, also known as the Hiten style. Master practitioners improve both their mental and emotional peace and the flexibility of their earthly form."

"Is groaning like a cow in labor actually part of the art or is that just you?" Darius laughed.

"We wouldn't expect a man like you to understand the benefits of a flexible body and mind, given that all you can think about is how clean your axe is and how much it makes up for your lack of size in your-"

"Of all the people out there, Riven, you should be the one most acquainted with my ACTUAL-"

"Hey, can we stop the dick talk for two seconds?" Zeke asked. "Darius and I were going to spar, so if you're not going to watch, can you get out of here?"

"And, by the way, what was that about you and Darius, Riven?"

**Shurima Desert**

**The X on the Map**

"Hello, Cryophoenix, fancy seeing you out here!" roared the dragon that had just dropped out of the clear sky, flaring its wings as it crashed onto the hot sands.

"Greetings, Shyvana. Welcome to VOID-COM."

"I have traveled long and hard to get here, Anivia. Is there anywhere I can rest?"

Anivia deftly rejected the suggestion. "Shyvana, you of all people should know that there's no rest for those who oppose the Void. Your help is dearly needed, and now, in the region of Kalamanda. I know you are wont to abruptly return to human form, and so I'd like you to do that now so that a sudden transformation does not disrupt the summoning process."

Within seconds, the imposing dragon shrank to a fit, if ordinary human woman. "My apologies for my indecency, Anivia, but it's rather hard to keep your clothes when you transform into a raging dragon."

Anivia smiled. "I've seen it all before." She gestured to a suit of armor sitting behind her. "I think you'll find that it all fits. When you're done, one of our summoners will send you off."

Suddenly, a voice crackled through Anivia's earpiece. "Anivia, the council is on the line. Please return to Central Command at your earliest convenience."

"I'm sorry, Shyvana. I would remain while you dressed, but I have urgent matters to attend to. You will have to trust that I will give you all pertinent information on VOID-COM upon your return." Anivia turned and waddled into the stairwell, where she jumped through the empty space in the center of the stairs and flared her wings to absorb the impact at the bottom.

Five minutes later, she was in Central Command. Two technicians activated the Parabola, VOID-COM's method of communication with the Council, then immediately left.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Spokesman?"

"We are glad that you find yourself in sound health and mind, Commander. However, we speak to you under less happy circumstances."

"What do you require of me, Councilman?"

"In the past month, we have been quite unhappy with your antics. Your actions in Demacia and Freljord simply serve to underscore the sheer measure of incompetence of your leadership and the lack of control you exercise over your soldiers. Coupled with the sharply decreasing number of actual Void events, we have decided that henceforth, the VOID-COM project shall be abandoned."

Abandoned. The word hung in Anivia's ears for a minute, sapping her resolve.

Abandoned.

"Councilman, I beg of you. We need to remain in existence so we may respond to Void threats as they arise. If the number of Void events has decreased, does that not reveal the depth of our success?"

"The success of your endeavors has little to do with our reasoning behind this decision. You have shown your organization to be a liability, a distraction, and that is one thing we and the League will not tolerate. We expect that all members of VOID-COM will be repatriated within the next forty-eight hours."

"And what about you and your fellow councilmen, Jericho Swain?" Anivia asked with utter contempt. "You betrayed the initiative you once fought to create. And yet you remain a part of it...shall you not be held accountable for what we have accomplished upon your orders?"

"I am the innocent reporter, my dear cryophoenix...I merely informed the League that VOID-COM has gone rogue upon the incident at the Demacian palace...Any soldiers not returned to their home nations in forty-eight hours will be treated as rogue Champions, and will be sentenced as such."

"You bastard, you complete and utter..."

"The League's troops will arrive in forty-eight hours to shut you down. I sincerely hope you are not there when they arrive, although perhaps you should be. As they say in Bilgewater, a captain should always go down with her ship...Farewell, Anivia." The screen flickered out.


	9. Episode 9: The Magus Protocol

**Twenty-Four Hours Later**

**Shurima Desert**

**The VOID-COM Nexus-Central Command**

Anivia flapped down from the rafters of Central Command, seeing the whole of VOID-COM gathered before her.

"Soldiers, VOID-COM has been disbanded. The League is coming." Shocked chatter filled the room as the Cryophoenix continued. "League champions on staff will go to Summoning immediately for return to their home countries. Technicians will take it in shifts to remain with me in Central Command arranging a place of refuge for the remaining members; everyone else who isn't on shift or returning home will report to the armory immediately to be armed with Viktor's rifles. Move!"

"Anivia, what are we doing?" a yordle technician asked after the rest of the crowd cleared out to go about their duties.

"We're trying to negotiate a place for the rest of VOID-COM to go. I'd rather the League found our facility empty then have to fight for every inch of this place under overwhelming odds."

"And what of the champions?"

"They have to be sent to their rightful homes. Except for Riven-I can't in good conscience send her to spend the rest of her life in prison. She'll come with us to wherever we find sanctuary." Anivia raised her voice to the technicians in the room. "I want someone on the line with every non-Council nation! Someone will offer us asylum if we make enough requests!"

"With respect, Cryophoenix, I don't think that will be necessary."

Anivia clucked with surprise. "Emilia, do you intend to remain here and wait for the League?"

Emila gesticulated wildly, characteristic of any yordle trying to make a point. "Anivia, Bandle City has been having problems with the Void. That's why they sent me; they thought that VOID-COM would help them if we sent more help. They'd certainly have no objection to all of VOID-COM showing up at their door."

"Bandle City it is, then." Anivia sighed. "Someone get me a map! Just put it on the table there!" The massive bird turned to Emilia. "How did you get here? Go on, go on, mark it out on the map, it's going to get destroyed anyways."

"Well, before I came to VOID-COM I worked as attending physician for yordle champions in the League, so I spent most of my time at the Institute of War. I hiked through Mogron Pass to get into the Shurima Desert, where I wandered around until I found you. That's the way the League would be coming."

"So what's the fastest way to Bandle City?"

"The main obstacle is the Sablestone Mountains. They wall off our country almost completely. That makes a route through the Kumungu and Plague Jungles infeasible, because even if we were to survive the jungle, we wouldn't be able to carry enough supplies for the month it would take us to climb over the mountain range."

"What do you propose, then?"

"We will instead march east, through Icathia, to the sea. There, in the southeastern corner of the region, is where the mountain range ends. We can march along the coast into Yordle Land, after which it won't be long to get to Bandle City."

Anivia sighed and shook her head.

Emilia looked up, concerned. "You know I'm right, Anivia. There's no other place we can go, and no other way we can get there. If we leave now, we could make it through Icathia before the League forces get there.

"We'll just have to risk it."

**VOID-COM Nexus-the Armory**

vikBOT handed another one of his creator's rifles to a rather unprepared technician. "POINT the small end at what you want to shoot, then pull the trigger."

The technician filed away, leaving the armory empty after so many weapons distributed. vikBOT turned to the screen, which revealed Anivia standing in a room Viktor had never seen. Which meant that vikBOT didn't recognize it either.

"Cryophoenix. The weapons have been distributed."

"Excellent, vikBOT! Just in time. Readouts report that the League forces have arrived six hours ahead of schedule, and have already triggered our perimeter defenses." Other screens flicked on as Anivia switched the broadcast mode to Public so she could speak to the entire base. "This is Anivia. VOID-COM's exterior defenses are under attack. In ten minutes, I will personally activate the Magus protocol. If you are not in the teleporter rooms by that time, your service will be honored. Remember, ten minutes."

Before the screens turned off, vikBOT managed to slip in a question. "Cryophoenix, what is the Magus protocol?"

Anivia answered simply, "VOID-COM's last resort."

Once everyone had filtered into the three rooms that served to teleport VOID-COM's last remaining members to a safer location, Riven asked, "So what is the Magus protocol?"

"It is the result of a magical experiment conducted thousands of years ago by a mage of the Shurima kingdom named Xerath, who sought to, as he put it, achieve ultimate power." Zilean replied. "He found this nexus, and cast a spell on himself that he thought would turn him into pure, uncontained mana, the source of all magical power."

"And what happened to him?"

"He succeeded all too well. The spell converted every atom in his body into pure mana, a transformation unmatched in magical history. However, he could not control the power he became, and a small portion of it had to be released. It left the only way it could: outward, burning the kingdom of Shurima to cinders in an instant. He was only stopped when two large groups of summoners combined their power, sending a group of five summoners to cast spells of exhaustion and sedation on the ascended being Xerath. He was imprisoned in a sarcophagus, where the first Summoners bound him with thousands of interlocked spells woven together like cloth that managed first to bind his magic to a physical form, and second to imprison him asleep in a temple buried deep below the newly formed Shurima Desert."

"And this is that temple." Anivia said. "VOID-COM chose this location after our research so that we could feed off of Xerath's energy. He has powered our entire facility since VOID-COM's inception. Now, in just over a minute, a charge we have set will free him. We, of course, will be far away. vikBOT! Energize the teleporters!"

"I am not yet sure that they were designed to transport a group of this size-"

"Unless you wish to be incinerated, you'll do it."

"Activating."

A blink later, the VOID-COM staff emerged in a large room. Just after they landed, the ground began to rumble, as if from far away. After it finished, Anivia and VOID-COM's few remaining soldiers lead the way to the surface.

To the west, a bright glow was slowly fading away as cinders began falling from the sky. A tattered, burning minion's cloak drifted out of the sky and landed in front of Zeke. He picked it up, handing it to Anivia. "Take a look," he said as bolts of lightning fell from the sky towards the League's forces.

"Something ancient stirs," the Cryophoenix replied, her eyes fixed on the ever-growing charred wasteland surrounding VOID-COM's former headquarters. "Let us pray it falls dormant once more."

**Day 6**

**Icathia-Outskirts**

Two figures, clothed in traditional Shuriman full-body garb, ascended yet another dune. At the top, looked down upon...another sand dune. The pair turned towards each other in confusion, then unsheathed their maps from their packs.

"This has GOT to be it! We should be able to see the city by now!"the taller of the two exclaimed.

"No, I told you it was over another hill!" replied the more diminuitive of the two. "Just look at the map-there's four ridges and this is the third one we've climbed!"

"Oh, come on, Emilia, just 'cause you're short doesn't mean you can't read a map! There's clearly three ridges-"

Suddenly, there was a bang. Emilia, the smaller of the two, was knocked to the ground, while the larger of the two drew a large, broken sword from her back.

Before them stood Kassadin. "Welcome to Icathia."

"I thought you had to return to the League?" Riven asked.

"I did." Kassadin smirked as much as he good with a breathing mask that covered his entire face. "They could not keep me for long."

"So, why are you here? How did you know we were coming?"

"Because the League knows you are coming. The path you seek has already been reached by summoners of the League, who are even now amassing an army of minions augmented with those champions most loyal to the League. You cannot hope to cross through."

"So what the hell do we do now?" Emilia demanded. "Turn back? There's nowhere to turn!"

"I am well aware of your options. The League-they were not amused by what you left behind for them at VOID-COM. Anivia must have been desperate to activate the Magus protocol-the desert for three clicks around has been turned to glass." Kassadin turned. "Your only option, if you are to escape the League, is to travel with me through Icathia...through the Void. It is the only place the League will not follow."

"Anivia will never agree to that." Riven replied. "It's too dangerous. Just look what happened to you!"

"I...was alone. You have me. I can protect you for a time. Now, if you excuse me, I must conference with Anivia." With another bang, Kassadin vanished.

He reappeared just behind Anivia, who was squatted atop a cactus gazing over the rations manifests brought to her by two yordle technicians.

"Leave us," Anivia said without a glance behind her. The two yordles dashed into a nearby tent and were gone. "So you returned."

"I have." Kassadin's voice remained calm in spite of his inner rage. "You activated the Magus protocol."

"It was necessary. You know it, I know it. Don't pretend to-"

"You have betrayed everything VOID-COM stands for. Letting that...THING...loose on the League, on the champions they brought with them-"

"There's something you're missing Kassadin, so I forgive your anger." Anivia pushed off the cactus, landing on the sand facing towards Kassadin. "The League was a member of the Council. The Council voted four to one-four to one!-to disavow us and hunt us like dogs after our years of silent, secret service. THEY betrayed us. I have betrayed nothing."

Anivia's voice seethed with bubbling, volcanic rage. "But I didn't do it for revenge-revenge is for the petty and the weak-willed. I did it to send a message. The League needs us, whether they like it or not; let them find out by hunting not a Void creature, but a being of similar or greater power."

"That is no justification. Provide one, or I can return to the League with your location."

Suddenly, Anivia was calm again. "Do you remember, all those years ago, when you returned from the Void. What was the first thing you did? The right thing would have been to immediately raise the alarm, halt the Rune War, and prepare for the invasion. Instead, you went to your daughter, living alone in a slum in Zaun, missing her father. In the days you shared with her, thousands of lives were snuffed out in the final Rune War."

"Then the Rune Wars ended, and you appeared at the peace conference, and VOID-COM was founded. And you were separated from her again, though I recall you taking every opportunity to see her, even stopping memory sessions to read her letters."

"Don't...talk...about...my..daughter…"

"You loved her. She was your child. So when you learned from a Voidling that the prophet Malzahar had kidnapped your daughter in Zaun, you rushed to her immediately in a blind rage. You abandoned your field team out of your love for her."

"SHUT UP!" Kassadin roared. "How DARE you-"

"And you found Malzahar performing an arcane ritual on your daughter, a nonlethal one, which would have made her a prophet of the Void equal to even him. And in your fury, you interfered. Your daughter vanished into the Void, and all from your love-"

"SILENCE!" Kassadin screamed, shooting a purple orb of Void magic from his blade which knocked Anivia on her back. "I LOVED HER! SHE WAS MY DAUGHTER, YOU OVERGROWN SNOW OWL!"

"The love of a parent for their children trumps all other emotions known to the living." Anivia struggled to her feet before turning to face the VOID-COM camp. "These are my children, Kassadin-the only ones I have. You were willing to do anything for your daughter. I will do anything for VOID-COM, or what remains of it." Anivia turned back to Kassadin, laying her wing across his shoulder. "My last chance to protect my children lies along a road only you have walked. I beg your assistance one last time, even though I know it is not deserved."

"You shall have it."


	10. Episode 10: Icathia

**Icathia-Valoran Side**

"Everyone, check your weapons. It's time to go in."

Anivia waddled around the group in the low-ceilinged room, searching for Kassadin. At last, she found him staring into the Void portal nested in the center of the room.

Kassadin, are you quite sure that this portal can take us into Yordle Land?"

"I am confident that I can guide you through the portal to another portal that we can use to get near Bandle City. The Void is merely a mirror image of Runeterra, populated by strange creatures the likes of which we have been fighting for years; however, the world inside is warped and twisted in strange ways. The distance we travel may be shorter than what it would be in Runeterra, or it may be many times longer; there is no sure way to know."

"So are we ready?"

"I will warn the group of the dangers, then we will depart." Kassadin raised his voice. "SILENCE!" he roared, and everyone in the group fell silent. "The Void is a dangerous place. We could be set upon by all manner of foul creature. Nothing inside is safe for you to consume if your rations run low. And the smallest cut will cause the Void to slowly infect your body as it did mine, until it either kills you or corrupts you.

Anivia spoke up. "I will force no man onto this path," she said with the air of desperation such an endeavor deserved. "This will be a dangerous task, and we are unlikely to make it through without losses. I invite anyone who is afraid or unwilling to withdraw now and make your way to the League forces; those who choose to do so shall be none the worse in mine or anyone elses' estimation. That being said, once we enter the Void, we shall not leave until we find a route to Bandle City or are slain. Am I understood?"

A murmur of "Yes" rolled through the group. "Very well. Kassadin, please lead the way; Zeke and Riven will stay with him in the front, while vikBOT, Zilean, and I will guard our rear. Stay close and keep your eyes open, or we will be forced to leave you behind."

And together, in groups of three, VOID-COM crossed into enemy territory.

**Icathia-Void Side**

After the group had all entered, they formed into an ellipse, with Kassadin and the other fighters leading the way and Anivia and the mages bringing up the rear. In between, the myriad technicians of VOID-COM held their pulse rifles nervously, sticking them outwards until the outside of the formation looked like Rammus' back.

"Do not engage any creatures unless we are attacked first." Kassadin ordered. "Our group is large enough to be discouraging to lone creatures; however, we would be wise to avoid drawing attention to ourselves."

Kassadin's advice notwithstanding, the group still trudged through the purple temple carefully, listening to the shuffling sounds coming from the world around them. Finally, the group came to the door of the temple, where Kassadin stopped them.

"Behold, the Void city of Icathia."

Various esoteric purple creatures roamed the city, most turning to take a gander at the mass of non-Voidlings marching through the city in broken step. A few were courageous enough to snarl or hiss at Zeke and Riven at the front of the group, but VOID-COM went unchallenged through the city until they reached the massive gate at the southeast end of the city.

There, in front of a massive wall of purple stone and spikes, stood a Void creature three times as tall as Kassadin with blade-like claws bristling from each of his many appendages.

"What brings you here, Voidwalker?" it snarled. "Bringing me a tribute of food? I could even do you for afters!"

"These are my wards, Gear'Maw, not your food. Open the gate, as is your duty."

"OPEN THE GATE?" the creature roared, laughing. "And why should I open the gate for you? You have clearly brought Runeterrans into our realm. Why should I open the gate for you instead of sounding the N'roh and bringing every Voidling in the city to feast on your marrow?"

"I have news of your son, Kog'Maw. Once my companions are through the gate, I shall tell you."

"AHH!" the creature laughed. "A barrrrrgggggaainnn. What has my least favorite son been up to in the land of you fleshlings?"

"Open the gate." Gear'Maw turned, lifted his massive arms, and forced the gate all the way open. The VOID-COM group quickly dashed through, leaving Kassadin behind. Then the gate abruptly shut again.

"Now, let's have a talk about dear Koggy!" Gear'Maw roared, standing to his full height over Kassadin.

"Always the fool." Kassadin muttered, vanishing. A moment later, he reappeared in front of VOID-COM. "I can cross between equivalent points of the Void and Valoran at will," he explained.

As the group marched southeast towards where the Sable Mountains would have been in Valoran, Kassadin explained more. "Time in the Void and in Valoran are entirely separate from each other; you can spend a year in the Void only to return to Valoran at the same time you left, and vice versa. This is how I Riftwalk-it is not teleportation, simply my ability to cross between the parallel planes at will."

And together the group continued as the Blight Sun rose high in the sky, casting an eerie light.

Hours later, despite marching in the right direction, the group couldn't see the mountains. "Kassadin, where are the equivalent of the Sablestone Mountains? We should have been able to see them by now," Riven said.

Kassadin suddenly stopped short, holding his sword out to block the group. "They are not mountains. Behold, the Ebonstone Abyss."

In front of the group, a vast, steep-walled chasm descended miles into the Void soil. Flocks of bat-like creatures could be seen flapping about the abyss. Anivia waddled up to Kassadin, turning to him.

"Is there any way we can cross, or do we have to turn back and find a way around?"

"There are small arches that cross over the abyss about a click to the east. However, they are only wide enough to cross single file, so we'd be vulnerable to attacks from the air mid crossing and at the bottleneck on either end." Kassadin frowned through his mask. "It's a necessary risk."

As he expected, Anivia did not object. "If it must be so, Kassadin."

At the crossing, Anivia marshaled her troops once more, unsure of what was to come. "We shall have to cross this bridge single-file. I want Kassadin leading the way again, followed by vikBOT. Zeke, Riven, and I shall hold the rear until everyone is on the bridge, then we will follow and wall off the back end of the bridge. Understood?"

"Yes, Commander!" the group yelled. Then the first of the technicians stepped onto the bridge, Kassadin and vikBOT leading them along. Anivia turned to Riven, asking, "It's been a while since I've been in combat. Do you have the items I asked you to pack for me?"

"Of course, Cryophoenix," Riven replied, kneeling down and opening her pack. Asking Anivia to land and bend low to the ground, she affixed first a red and blue hat to Anivia's head, then handed her a staff with a large yellow bulb mounted on the end to carry. "

Predictably, Zeke asked what they were as Anivia took off, scouting for possible threats. Riven told him, "The hat was the Rabadon's Deathcap, which heightens one's natural magical power by two orders of magnitude. The other thing was the Archangel's Staff, which I precharged with massive amounts of mana for Anivia to drain. I think she expects a fight."

Suddenly, three blasts of ice rained down from the purple sky, forming three walls of ice with two small gaps in between them. Anivia called down, "I can see a horde of smaller voidlings! I'll try to thin them out, but some of them will still make it to you! We have to buy time for everyone else! Get ready!"

From outside their improvised fortress, the sound of whipping winds and pounding snow trickled in, followed by rapid rustling noises as the mass of voidlings approached. Zeke drew his awkward contraption, a Tiamat bound with rope to a spear, while Riven drew her broken sword, yelling out as she summoned the two missing pieces, completing the massive stone blade.

"Here they come!" Zeke yelled, and the two took up positions at the slight gaps in the wall.

Riven took one last glance over at Zeke as the monsters arrived. "I'll see you on the other side, friend."

"Wouldn't miss it."

The pair easily dispatched the first voidlings to arrive, Riven with a single stab of her massive sword and Zeke with a swing of his Tiamat. But more poured through the gate, and even though only one could enter at a time, soon the pair found themselves fighting multiple snarling voidlings at once. Zeke and Riven slowly packed off towards the bridge, running out of space to dodge the agile creatures' leaping lunges and snaps at their limbs.

"Anivia! We can't hold out much longer!" Riven yelled.

"We have to!" Anivia replied. "The longer a head start we can give the rest of VOID-COM, the better their odds of survival!"

Zeke dispatched a group of voidlings with a single spinning slash. Three more took their place, stabbing with their stiletto-like feet. With his arms exposed, Zeke took two light slashes on the arms. His crimson blood slowly dripped onto the ground, already soaked with the purplish-grey ichor of a hundred voidlings.

And still the three fought on, as the rest of VOID-COM made it halfway across the bridge.

At last, Anivia yelled, "This staff is running dry! Fall back onto the bridge, and I'll clear the voidlings you're fighting now before I wall off the bridge!"

Riven jumped onto the bridge, but Zeke could only stumble, the wounds on his arm sapping his strength just as Kassadin predicted.

"COME ON, Zeke!" Riven yelled, grabbing him by the arm and forcing him ahead of her on the bridge. "Anivia, do it now!"

The pair felt freezing cold winds snapping at their backs, followed by an ice wall that erected itself at the base of the bridge. Riven pushed Zeke ahead of her across the bridge, where the rest of VOID-COM trudged along about three hundred feet ahead.

"Good work, you two! Now catch up with the rest of the group!" Anivia called out as she crossed over the bridge.

"Zeke's wounded! I'm gonna keep him going, but he's in no shape to fight!"

"No...I can still…" Zeke grunted, his energy vanishing more and more into the nothingness that pervaded the Void. The two fighters limped together across the bridge, watching the burst of plasma and light firing from the main VOID-COM contingent ahead.

The bats Anivia had spotted earlier attacked, striking the inexperienced support team from all angles. Several were knocked, screaming, into the abyss, no doubt for the creatures to feast on later. Viktor's pulse rifles had an effect, but the most powerful weapon was Emilia's Megling combat medic's needle gun, which she had modified to shoot sprays of unloaded needles instead of the single syringes it usually fired.

Finally, the beleaguered group reached the end of the abyss, fanning out into a compact formation at the edge of the chasm, where a forest of grey spikes awaited them. There, they waited for Riven, who was pushing Zeke forwards even as his body struggled evermore to give up. As they reached the end of the bridge, Kassadin rushed over to them.

"He's cut," Riven panted. "Left arm. Two scratches."

"The only way to halt Void poisoning is to return to Runeterra. We shall proceed with all haste." Kassadin turned away, leading the group into the forest. Anivia flapped overhead, following the main group.

"Come on, Zeke, we're almost there, keep going," Riven panted, now wrapping her left arm around Zeke's back.

She never saw the massive Void creature sneaking up behind her. Climbing out of the pit, it leaped upon the pair, knocking them apart. Riven's sword clattered to the ground near the lethargic Zeke.

He climbed to his feet by degrees, groaning at the continuous draining of his strength. In front of him, he saw first Riven's sword, then Riven lying on her back, trying to keep the creature at bay with her bare hands. With all the strength he had left, he lunged for Riven's massive sword. Grasping the handle, he spun about, flinging the sword like a discus at the Voidling, which had begun gorging itself on Riven's right arm.

The sword struck the Voidling blade first in the heart. It roared,stumbling backwards, before it toppled over into the abyss, carrying away Riven's blade.

"Riven...Riven!" he gasped, crawling to Riven's limp form. Anivia flew down to join him.

"I heard the commotion-what happened?" Anivia barked. Then she saw blood gushing from the stump of Riven's right arm, just below the elbow. "Averosa, protect me…"

"Tear off my shirt...make a tourinquet…" Zeke muttered, the adrenaline leaving his system in favor of exhaustion. Anivia used her massive beak to snip off a strip, handing it to Zeke, who tied it up. Below them Riven had already lost consciousness. The strip of cloth had already soaked through with blood by the time Zeke finished his knot.

Anivia dropped something from one of her talons. "Zeke, Emilia told me to have you inject yourself with this. It should give you enough energy to make it the rest of the way. Quickly, go catch up with the group!"

"What about you?" Zeke demanded, injecting himself with the mix of adrenaline and red potion, which quickly revitalized him, although he didn't know how long it would last. "What about Riven?"

"Go! I'll carry her through the air." Zeke dashed off into the spike forest, following the sounds of running from the group. Finally, he caught up with the rest of VOID-COM, standing near what looked like a pool of purple liquid in the ground.

Kassadin suddenly emerged from the pool. "The portal is at the bottom of a lake," he said, "but once you surface, you can see Bandle City about ten clicks to the southeast. Move. I'll bring up the rear."

As the support staff of VOID-COM began to enter the portal in pairs, Zeke stumbled over to Kassadin. "Kassadin...Riven and Anivia…"

"If they are not here by the time everyone else is through the portal, you must leave us and return to Runeterra. Your case of Void poisoning is getting worse by the minute. I will search for them alone."

"Riven may already be dead…" Zeke gasped. "A Void creature jumped us…I killed it, but it took Riven's arm before I could stop it."

"The situation is more grave then it appears…" Kassadin muttered. Finally he said, "Zeke. Get in the portal. I will retrieve them."

"But Kassadin…"

"I cannot take care of both of you right now. Get through the portal before I have to force you through."

Still protesting, Zeke stepped into the portal. A freezing cold sensation gripped him as he realized he was underwater. Two technicians waited for him, hands outstretched. Zeke grabbed them, and together they floated to the surface. Zeke sputtered and gasped for air as he felt energy return to his body. "Kassadin...Anivia…Riven...they're still in there…"

"We can only wait…" Zilean said. "But at most, two of them will return. More I cannot say-the Void twists my abilities and makes divining the future more difficult."

**The Fae Forest-Void Side**

Kassadin dashed back the way he came, searching for Anivia and Riven. Finally, he found the pair, still by the edge of the abyss. Anivia had frozen Riven into a block of ice.

"The tourinquet wasn't working," she muttered. "Had to freeze her solid...only way she had a chance...but I can't carry her like this…"

"I'll take her," Kassadin said, hefting the frozen Riven onto his empowered shoulder. "The portal is a pool of water about four hundred yards to the south in the spike forest. It comes out underwater, so be prepared."

Anivia set off into the purple sky. Kassadin turned and ran for the portal, his speed growing as he heard many Void creatures hissing, agitated by the smell of Valoran blood.

A hundred yards away, with the clearing that contained the portal in view, he heard a familiar voice shouting. He stopped, setting Riven down. Across the forest, he saw the one person he had never thought he would see again.

"FATHER!" the voice screamed. Then it was gone.

Forgetting Riven entirely, Kassadin Riftwalked through Valoran, reappearing where he thought the voice had come from.

"Mirana!" He yelled back. "I'm coming!" Then he riftwalking again, chasing the voice of his daughter.

Anivia flew down at the portal, only to see that Kassadin and Riven never arrived. Turning back, she saw Riven's frozen body laying about a hundred yards down the path. She stumbled to the hunk of ice, cradling it in her massive wings before turning back towards the portal. As she slowly hobbled on her talons, terribly unsuited for the shifting ground of the Void forest, she could hear the creatures of the Void massing, as if for battle. She quickened her pace, almost falling over the uneven ground.

In the clearing, Anivia almost sighed with relief, until she saw a leopard-like creature leaping at her from the opposite side of the spike forest. She closed her eyes, leaned forward, and toppled into the portal, Riven still grasped in her wings.

Zeke appeared above her in the water, grabbing Riven from her and hauling her to the surface. Beating her wings frantically, Anivia thrashed about underwater until two other VOID-COM members brought her to the surface. Her sodden feathers made it hard to notice the tears flowing from her eyes.

"What the hell happened in there?"

"Riven was losing too much blood...had to freeze her...only way...Kassadin...went searching for something…"

"You did well, Anivia. Come over here, dry off in the sun." Emilia said, running over with her medkit out to look at Riven. "Damn," she muttered, staring at the blood frozen in its path out of Riven's mangled arm. "They're not dead until they're warm and dead. If we get her to Bandle General before she melts, I can save her." she said.

"Anivia," Zeke asked, "Is Kassadin coming?"

Anivia turned to Zeke. She shook her head.

* * *

_Well, that's it for now. Season 1 is finally done with, just in time for school to start up for me. _

_As of right now I haven't decided if there will be a Season 2. I'd love to write one because I feel this season ended on a cliffhanger and I don't want to leave everybody who was reading hanging. Whether a season 2 actually happens is dependent on how much homework I have, how much interest there is from you, the readers, and whether I have any other ideas that I HAVE to write in between now and then. _

_If there is going to be a Season 2, first I'd like to spend a few months working on another project to give me a break from VOID-COM. As much as I enjoyed writing it, there were times were I felt I had to top every event from every previous episode, and it started to weigh on my mind. I'd much rather take a break for a few months, try my hand at a different, more character focused fiction (the first chapters of which I've begun writing) then keep trucking away with the pseudo-military drama that VOID-COM is so that when I come back to it I'll be fresh and ready to start from square one for Season 2. _

_In the meantime, please review and comment on my thread on the League forums, which is here: _ . ?t=3541326. _And while you're at it, tell me what you want to see in Season 2. I have a few story arcs that I want to focus on for Season 2 if it's written, most of which were hinted at in the last three episodes, but I'll need stuff to move along so every episode isn't a blatant arc-fest. That was my greatest regret for Season 1: that I had promised everyone on the League forums a more "monster of the week" type story which turned into a continuous arc that never really left time for what I had originally planned on writing. So if you have any ideas for VOID-COM members or possible episodes, feel free to post them in the forum thread or PM me on . I may not always respond, but I read everything, and I'm really thankful for the feedback I've gotten so far._

_Until next time, League fans!_


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